Review: Flawless (Pretty Little Liars #2) by Sara Shepard

Title:  Flawless (Pretty Little Liars 2)

Author: Sara Shepard

Published: April 1st, 2007 (HarperCollins Publishers) (First published March 26th, 2006)

Pages: 330

Genres/Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance, Murder

Format: Paperback

Source: Borrowed

Rating: Three Stars

Goodreads Summary:

In the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, where the sweetest smiles hide the darkest secrets, four pretty little liars–Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna–have been very bad girls. . . .

Spencer stole her sister’s boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya . . . as much more than a friend. And Hanna’s obsession with looking flawless is literally making her sick. But the most horrible secret of all is something so scandalous it could destroy their perfect little lives.

And someone named “A” is threatening to do just that.

At first they thought A was Alison, their friend who vanished three years ago . . . but then Alison turned up dead. So could A be Melissa, Spencer’s ultracompetitive sister? Or Maya, who wants Emily all to herself? What about Toby, the mysterious guy who left town right after Alison went missing?

One thing’s for certain: A’s got the dirt to bury them all alive, and with every crumpled note, wicked IM, and vindictive text message A sends, the girls get a little closer to losing it all.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Cover Thoughts: I like how the series matches each of it’s covers with a doll and a different background color.

First Line: You know that boy who lives a few doors down from you who’s just the creepiest person alive?

~First Thoughts~

I love books that talk directly to me, it gives me a movie feel. I love flashbacks.

~Review~

In the second book in the Pretty Little Liars series, we meet the girls again after they have received messages from the anonymous texter known as A. As a watcher of the television series, it was really interesting to see how certain plots changed or remained the same in Flawless. For the majority of the part, I loved Flawless a bit more than the tv series which had changed things I think could have been better on the show.

One of the few things that bothered me in Flawless were the secrets that the girls were keeping from each other and how they wouldn’t just come clean about A. I just wanted to shake them and tell them that they should tell each other what was going on. I liked and disliked how the girls really had their own lives from each other. In Flawless, we barely even see them interact with each other after the first meeting. I loved this because it showed the girls differing personalities and life situations. I thought it was interesting to see how they did apart from each other.

Each of the girls had their own problems going in their lives which I thought was really good and realistically done. Aria struggles with the effects of her father’s cheating and her secret relationship with her english teacher, Ezra Fitz. Spencer deals with the repercussions of having a crush on her sister’s boyfriend. Hanna is now single, has been caught stealing and has a DUI. If that’s not enough, she tries to obtain a better relationship with her father. The girls also have one giant problem that all four of them are dealing with that none of them can come clean about.

This is where A comes into the picture. In the midst of the girl’s “regular” lives, they’re all receiving messages from A and dealing with their best friend’s death. A blackmails each of the girls to tell their secrets or offers to do it themselves. The girls wonder who A is, why they are doing this and how they’ll make A stop.

I just want to say, “wow”. I’m amazed these girls can sleep tonight, I’m amazed they’ll actually go places by themselves, and I’m amazed they don’t just hide away in their house 24/7. If I had someone like A watching my every move, ready to spill all my secrets, who may have played a part in my best friend’s death and harassed me, I’m not sure I would ever go anywhere. I don’t think I would even sleep for fear A would come into my house and kill me.

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little extreme. . . Wait, no I’m not. I would totally lock myself in my house, get the best security system I can buy and cry. So the fact that these girls continue to live their lives with A around, I am very impressed and give them kudos.

It was interesting to see the girls interact with Allison in flashbacks. One can definitely see the hold Allison had on the girls and with A on their trail, maybe she still does. Rosewood police questions the girls about what they know about the night Allison disappeared. Allison is not a nice person, I can’t say I’m upset she’s dead. She treated the girls badly, she was mean to Mona, she was some little princess who could talk anyone out of anything and it just drives me insane. I can see why the girls would want to be her friend, she’s pretty, popular and makes them feel special, I can definitely see why, but still…

Seriously.

Flawless is definitely easy reading but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable for me. I was wrapped up into each of the girl’s life feeling sorry about their best friend’s death, even if she wasn’t the greatest girl in the world (an understatement) and for their own problems they dealt with. Spencer by far is my favorite with Hanna coming in second followed by Aria, then Emily. I loved Spencer’s intelligence, crumbling relationship with her parents and her newfound relationship with Wren. My heart completely broke for Spencer as she dealt with her parents ostracizing her. Of course, she has Wren, her sister’s boyfriend to make things a little better. This is one aspect I wish the show had expanded on. On one hand, I felt what Spencer was doing was really wrong, on the other hand, Spencer and Wren definitely had chemistry that I enjoyed reading.

I loved reading about Hanna’s plots in Flawless. My favorite plot of hers was seeing her relationship with her father who’s engaged. I felt bad for Hanna because since her father left years ago, she never really felt “right” and it was sad to see. Hanna is best friends with Mona, a girl Allison and the girls used to make fun on. I liked Hanna’s relationship with Mona and wish there had been a bit more of it.

Aria’s forbidden relationship with Ezra Fitz was definitely one the “iffy” parts of Flawless for me. I couldn’t get over the age difference, the fact that Ezra’s her teacher or the fact that Aria’s his student. I’m pretty strict by the book when it comes to Teacher/Student relationships with the very small exception of Paige/Mr. O from Degrassi: The Next Generation. Other than that…eh. I wasn’t really feeling it. Still though, I loved seeing Aria deal with her parents marriage falling apart, her brother’s struggle with coming to terms of it and A’s role in all of it. While I was extremely sad for her, I found it one of the most relatable parts of Flawless.

Emily’s sexuality plot is one I loved reading about in Flawless. I liked seeing her deal with the peer pressure to act like she’s straight and coming to terms with being gay. Her feelings and actions were realistic. As a star swimmer, I could really understand why she didn’t want to be “out” as gay. People may make fun of her and unlike other characters, she’s never had to deal with that before.

Besides the main girls, there are other characters such as Mona, Jenna and Toby. Mona was an interesting character and it was nice to see her and Hanna’s friendship. Jenna and Toby are in Flawless a fair bit of it. Toby really surprised me in Flawless with his behavior towards the girls and Jenna. I felt sorry for Jenna given her circumstances.

Despite the mystery of Flawless, it’s a very light, easy read. While the writing was simple, I felt engaged throughout the entire book. I also loved the titles each chapter had since I don’t really see that in any novels. I like Flawless a bit more than it’s predecessor as I learn more about the characters. The mystery is still a highlight despite knowing who A is already, due to spoilers. I am still excited to see how everything plays out exactly. I rate Flawless three out of five stars, mostly because I hated the girls not interacting with one another, the secrets, and the simple writing style.

~Final Thoughts~

Wow. Even though I knew this was going to happen I’m just so surprised! I can’t wait to read the next one.

~Recommended For~

Teenagers (14-17+)

Fans of mystery

~Memorable Quotes~

Ali had a talent for finding a girl’s weakness, and even if she was right about Imogen, the girls all sometimes wondered if Ali was ever ripping on them when they weren’t around.

Don’t get too comfortable. It’s not over until I say it is. -A

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme created and hosted by Jill @ Breaking The Spine. WoW is a place to share an upcoming release you’re highly anticipating. To join in, link up and view others’ picks, you can go here. 🙂

My Selection:

Vicious (Pretty Little Liars #16) by Sara Shepard

Release Date: December 2nd, 2014

Published By: Harper Teen

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance, Contemporary

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository

For the sake of myself and any others that haven’t read this series but may want to, I’m omitting the usual summary I would put here. I decided to first skim it and yeah…I should have known better. I’m so spoiler prone and I’m just smacking myself right now. 😦 I can’t believe I actually looked at the summary, gah. Anyway! 🙂 How gorgeous is that cover? It’s so pretty! I really love it.

~Why I’m Excited~

I was first hooked on the show Pretty Little Liars just a few summers ago when it was on Netflix and about to start it’s fourth season. I quickly caught up in two or three weeks of binge watching. I was addicted.

I only began reading the books a year ago and I’ve still only finished Flawless (the second book). The last book, Vicious, is the sixteenth book in the series and also the final book. I feel some series finale regret.

Unlike others, I never read the books when they first came out, I didn’t even watch the show when it first came out. I sort of feel like I missed out on the experience of it all. With that said, Vicious is my Waiting on Wednesday post this week. I hope to finish the entire series this next year.

If you’ve read this series, let me know what you think and what your pick is this week. 🙂

Wondrous Covers Wednesday (#11)

Good evening everyone. It’s Wednesday which means it’s time for Wondrous Covers Wednesday. If you don’t know, Wondrous Covers Wednesday (or WCW) is a weekly feature at YA Indulgences where I showcase three amazing covers that I love and share why.

 

I’ll be honest, I was struggling with trying to come up with a theme for this week and didn’t want to just choose any three gorgeous covers. However, as I browsed book covers, I discovered a common thread. That common thread is that all of the covers have double images.

My Selections:

 Jackaby by William Ritter

 The cover alone makes me want to read this    book even though I’m not sure what it’s even about. I know, don’t judge a book by a cover…

I love how there are two images on it. I  really like the blue ting in the photo. The red shown in it really pops. I really like seeing cities in backgrounds too.

 

 

 

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2. She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

This cover is completely gorgeous. Like Jackaby, it also has a person’s face on the cover, but it’s transculcent, with a city street in the background. It makes me want to just dive into this book, literally into the cover. I think it’s interesting how the girl on the cover doesn’t have her eyes shown or anything. The color on it is really pretty as well.

 

 

 

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3. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare

It took me forever to find a third cover that would fit this theme as I was so hooked on it. I can thank Eileen @ the BookCatPin though because another series by this author was featured in one of her posts. I’m cutting it close with this one though as the person looks like she could almost be in the scene.

Anyway, I love the dramatic feel this cover has. There’s a character in white, with what I sense is an angel (or demon?) behind her which just gives it sort of a mysterious feel. The title is completely fitting as well since it does look like the city’s almost on fire.

 

 

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Tell me what some of your favorite covers are and what you think of these ones in the comments. 🙂 And as always, thank you for stopping by. ❤

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Books I Want To Reread

Hey guys. It’s Top Ten Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted at The Broke and The Bookish. To read more about it, you can go here. This week’s list is a great pick. It is the Top Ten Books I Want To Reread (or if you don’t reread…would reread in an ideal world). 

I re-read once in a while, but not too often. When I do read I’m either reading past releases I missed reading or new books that have been released.  I easily came up with ten choices I would read though. 🙂

~Top Ten Books I Want To Reread~

1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Review)

   • I’d love to re-read this book knowing what I do now. I loved so many aspects of this book such as the fairytales. I really loved the whole mystery of We Were Liars and I would re-read it for the writing alone.

2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (Review)

   • Eleanor and Park, while not perfect, is definitely one of my favorite Young Adult romance novels. While it’s a romance, it’s so much more than that.

3. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

   • With Mockingjay coming out in a few weeks, I really want to re-read the series. Though I haven’t read Mockingjay yet and I just read the the first two books a couple weeks ago. There will be upcoming reviews for them coming out this month.

4. Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang (Review)

   • I loved the non-linear style of the novel, the main character, the side characters, the slight mystery of it all. I read this book as an ARC so I would love to read a finished copy of it.

5. If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman (Review)

   • I’m saying this a lot, but I loved this book. Like Falling Into Place, it has a non-linear style of writing focused on a young female character and I just love it.

6. Where She Went (If I Stay #2) by Gayle Forman (Review)

   • I love this book even more than the former, which is crazy. It had such a different feel from the first one, but still managed to capture a little of the magic and pain from the first one.

7. A Midsummer’s Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

   • I read this book really recently, like last month. I loved the main character and the plots. This is one of my favorite books. I’ll be writing an upcoming review on this book next week.

8. Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of The Universe by Benjamin Alire

   Sáenz

   • I fell in love with Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of The Universe when I read it last month. There will be an upcoming review next Tuesday.

9. Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares

   • This was a series I wanted to re-read this past summer, but never got around to purchasing all four books. I now have three out of four and of course, I’m missing the third one. This is one of my favorite series and I love books involving summer and friendship and different points of views.

10. Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

    • I’d actually began re-reading this book for the Suicide and Mental Illness Theme Read going on in September and October at Resistance is Futile. I never managed to finish reading it though due to other books taking priority. I’ve re-read it a few times and I definitely want to do so again soon. It’s a fast read with around 200 pages.

11. Speak by Laurie Halse Andersen

    • I believe I’ve only read this book once when I was sixteen. I enjoyed the plot from what I remember. I’d love to re-read it and see what I thought of it now.

12. The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith (Review)

    • This is definitely one of my favorite Young Adult novels ever. There are several aspects in the novel that I like. Hadley, the main character, is one of my favorite female characters.

13. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

    • I wanted to re-read this novel before I saw The Fault In Our Stars in theaters for the second time, but I never got around to it.

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Let me know in the comments what books you’d love to re-read or if you’ve read and enjoyed any of these books. 

Amber’s Rambles – Book Buying Bans, Binges and Budgets (And a little more) (Part 1)

Amber’s Rambles

Good evening everyone, it’s time for Amber’s Rambles, a feature in which I occasionally ramble.  🙂

 

Hello! Welcome back. This is my first official post for my three part series of “Book Buying Bans, Binges and Budgets“. Last week I had my introduction which you can read here. In this discussion, I will be discussing book buying binges, a reader’s dream…and nightmares.

Let’s begin.

So it’s summer time, let’s assume you have all this free time, you haven’t read in a while but now you have the chance! Therefore you decide to buy some books, you know, because you’re a little bit behind the book crazes these days.

But wait, what about all the other books from past years you want to buy? You figure you’ll buy a few of those too and a few new ones. Before you know it though, you’ve bought 10+ books and what you thought would be just a little casual book shopping has become a full blown book buying binge.

But wait. . . What exactly is is a book buying binge? Let’s examine it word by word.

book/bo͝ok/

noun

1.a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.

buy/bī/

verb

1.obtain in exchange for payment.

binge/binj/

verb

1.indulge in an activity, especially eating, to excess.

So… according to those definitions, a book buying binge is indulging excessively in printed work by paying for it.

Ah ha… Well, that is certainly what I do.

Book binging is the story of my life, even more so since I began blogging about books. It’s all just so complicated, I’m going to break this down into sections now! By buying methods. 🙂

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~Online Shopping~

Yes, these seem to be my worst temptation, it’s convenient, you don’t have to do any real searching other than the chosen website’s search “bar” and the books get delivered right to your house! What more could you want?

There are so many choices when going the online route, there’s Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Book Depository, all of which seem to be the biggest online sources for books.

Then there are secondhand retailers such as Thrift Books and Book Outlet which often have books extremely cheap and in pretty good condition.

If you’re like me, you search through each of the websites and may try to find the cheapest price. What can I say? The more money I save, the more money I can spend to buy more books. That makes sense, right? At least it seems that way.

So then you decide to buy a few recent books here, a couple older books there, maybe one or two books you’ve been dying to read “forever” and suddenly…you’re out of a hundred dollars easy. It doesn’t sound like much as you buy books from the different websites, $50 here, $30 there and then it adds up. Oh, how it adds up. . . On the bright side, you can expect mail for the next week or so, that’s a plus, right? It’s two enjoyments in one! Books and receiving things in the mail! What a great joy.

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~Book Stores~

Book stores are fantastic, if you live in a large city, there are probably at least a few book stores around you. I live in smaller city and there’s a Barnes and Noble here and a little “booktique” called the Chandler Booktique inside my local library, which I like to frequent regularly.

There are a number of times when I would go in Barnes and Noble and just fill a basket of books, some of which I put back, but I still bought abundantly. Every once in a while I may end up buying a book there just because “one book won’t kill me”, this is after I’ve already purchased a ton of books, of course. I was just in there last week and I found Throne of Glass in purple. Now I’ve never read the Throne of Glass series and Heir of Fire is the final book, I almost bought it just because it was purple and gorgeous looking. I didn’t though, I have a little bit of self control. 😉

Surprisingly, those are the only two official book stores I know of in town.

The Chandler Booktique sells gently used books for very reasonable prices. The most I’ve ever spent on book there was around $5.

There’s a great selection of classics at pretty much any given time. That little tiny cart there in the picture contains books that are sold for, I believe, 25 or 50 cents each. You can’t get much better than 25 or 50 cents for a barely used book.

I’ve walked out of there with several books before telling myself “Okay, I have to go check the children’s/YA section, then the fiction section, the poetry section, the 50 cent books and the classics”. Then I will re-check each section in case I missed something. 🙂 That can’t be happening, haha.

It’s really interesting having this book store inside a library because it’s kind of like “Well, why not just go check out the book from the library?”, I’ll be honest, I like just buying a new book. Even if it has been used, there’s just a great feeling about having a brand new (to me) book that I luckily found. Plus they don’t charge tax for the books which is so great.

In my college town, even smaller than my current city, there is a Hastings, which sells books and dvds and a book store called The Dusty Bookshelf. I never bought any books at Hastings since I just never found any I was interested in. The Dusty Bookshelf is a complete different story.

Now this lovely place is quite amazing. There are so many large book shelves filled with books and then even books stacked in corners or along the bottom of the floor and everything.

It was literally a five minute walk from my college dorms, a reader’s dream/curse. It wasn’t much for me to walk in there and pick up three of four books at a time. I did so quite often. There were also times I’d just go in and look at the different sections, seeing if anything piqued my interest. The Dusty Bookshelf also contained a cat named Cleo! Unfortunately, I just discovered Cleo died last year. 😦 That certainly puts a downer on my otherwise happy reminiscing mood. Onward I go. . .

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~Book Sales~

My favorite! This is going to be a combination of online shopping and book stores because sales are found among both! Thrift Books already sales book for super cheap but occasionally they’ll have sales that are like “20% off whole purchase” or “Buy three get one free”. It’s always super tempting to buy books then because, hello, they’re on sale!

Book Outlet occasionally gives out coupons for “$5 off a purchase of $35 or more” or “$20 off a purchase of $60 or more”. I’ve never been lucky enough to receive a coupon or buy books from Book Outlet when they were having an amazing sale like the one mentioned above, but that’s probably a good thing because I would go insane with book buying.

Book sales are so amazing and so bad if you don’t limit yourself. Every year, the library here has their annual Friends of the Library three day sale. The Friday night is the preview night for “Friends”, who have memberships or anyone who wants to buy a membership or pay $5. I went there on the preview night and came home with 23 books.

Let me tell you, I had my hopes low, but I brought three bags with me. Yes, three! I filled two of them. 🙂 That was after putting around ten books back as well. And then deciding not to get other books when I was looking through them originally.

The annual sale is great because the majority of the books are only one to two dollars. One. To. Two. Dollars. That’s just like, oh my gosh, “wow”. It’s no wonder I bought so many books.

I also went back the next day and bought six more! I spent a total of $12. Four of those books were hardbacks which would have cost around $12 just for one, so that’s like, ridiculously amazing. If you’ve seen my Stacking The Shelves #4 post, the majority of those books are from the library sale. 🙂

Book sales are awesome. They just are.

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Now that I’ve discussed online shopping, book stores and book sales, it’s no wonder people can go on complete book binges. It’s inevitable, so many choices, so many books, what are you to do? Well, after you buy so many books, there’s only one thing to do…go on a book buying ban. This is a complete foreign concept to me, like what? What do you mean a book buying ban? Like you don’t buy any books? Like at all? Not even if they’re on sale? Not even if it’s the last copy in a book store? Don’t ask me why you would go into a book store when you’re on a book buying ban, I don’t know why, but it sounds like something I would do. Oh, the temptation…

Yeah, I know. It’s crazy talk, but some people actually do it. They’ll ban themselves from buying books. Supposedly.

How exactly does a book buying binge happen though? Do you just set out to a buy a huge amount of books and justify it somehow (ex. Well I won’t be able to buy any books in *insert amount of time*)? Does it happen accidentally until you realize how many books you’ve really bought? Who knows?

Now I have some questions for you all. 😀

1. What do you think qualifies as a book buying binges?

2. How often do you go on book buying binges?

3. What is the most you’ve spent on a binge?

4. Do you ever try to justify your buying binges?

5. Where do you buy the majority of your books?

6. Have you ever done a book buying ban? And for how long?

Let me know! I may choose a couple comments to be spotlighted next discussion. 🙂 Stay tuned for next week where I delve into the topic of Book Buying Bans.

 

Amber’s Rambles (#5) – Introduction to Book Buying Bans, Binges and Budgets

Amber’s Rambles

Good evening everyone, it’s time for Amber’s Rambles, a feature in which I occasionally ramble. 🙂

This week’s topic is book buying bans, binges and budgets. If you saw one of my former posts, you would see a discussion on book buying binges. This is sort of a follow-up to that. This is something I’ve heard of people doing. Unbelievable. I, myself, don’t really need to enforce a book buying ban because I only buy books around four times a year. Usually. . . However, I thought I would see what others thought. This will be broken up into different parts for the month of October, I feel it would work best that way. This week’s topic is a slight introduction/slight opening to book buying binges. It may will end abruptly.

Last month I bought an insane amount of books, I have never bought so many books before in my life. I blame it on my discovering Book Outlet, Thrift Books, Book Depository, the annual Friends of The Library Sale(!)  and ultimately, my complete and utter lack of self control and discipline. Because God knows I really lack self control when it comes to buying things, mostly books, CDs and dvds. Who cares that I already bought a book I already own? That one was used, in paperback and worn out. The one I bought was basically new, beautiful, hardcover and two dollars. That’s what always gets me.

The sales.

I call it a talent buying so many books. A gift. An ambition that really shouldn’t be an ambition to one day owning my own perfect little Beauty and The Beast-esque library. As I told my mom, I’m simply preparing for when I own a house with an extra room I can use as a library. I have to have books to fill those shelves. Right? Right.

Others may call it a downright lack of self control and super impulsive.

Did I mention I bought Impulse by Ellen Hopkins? It’s quite lovely, it was around $5, brand new and on Thrift Books. You’re envious, right?

Moving on, the thing is, I buy the books and I tell myself “Oh sure, I’ll read all these books soon. I’ll be reading like crazy. I have three months to read all the books!”

You know what happens? Other than not actually reading all of the books I bought, . . . It just wasn’t the right time, I tell myself. I’ll read this book next month, more books are released. Then I’m stuck waiting. Waiting to get money to buy said books. It’s a long wait, three months in fact.

I’ll live, I have so. many. books.

But alas, I want to read THAT book, THAT week. What do I do? I pace, I tap my fingers impatiently wishing three months would come sooner, wishing I had a job to maintain my book buying habits, I eye all the books online just waiting until I will one day own said book.

Top Ten Tuesday – Top 10-Ish Books on my Fall TBR List

Ah, a day late, but better late than never. Yes? Okay. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created and hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Every week there is a new bookish list for book bloggers to participate in. 🙂 To join in and link up, you can link here.

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 This week’s top ten list is the top ten books on my fall top ten to be read list. I’m going to mix this up a bit though and make…a few lists. One for books I own, the second for ones I don’t own (or haven’t been released) and the third will be my Winter picks (so far). 🙂

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 Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read list

1. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

   • I discovered this book through the lovely book blogosphere and decided I must have it. Although this book takes place in summer, I think with the weather changing, the mystery can really be brought out as it grows colder. I’ve already started it and so far I love it.

2. Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas

   • Similar to what I said above, the book blogosphere was raving over this book in excitement. I figured I couldn’t order one without the other so… I had to get this one too. This one’s very high on my fall list.

3. Vivian Versus The Apocalypse/Vivian Versus America by Katie Coyle

   • This book fascinates me with it’s view of this alternate universe where the Church of America is just terrible and this “rapture” that occurs. There’s also a road trips and everything’s better with road trips. The sequel, Vivian Versus America just came out this month which I was unaware of, so it also adds another ’14 book to my reading list this year.

4. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

   • I’ve never read a fairytale retelling, but I’ve wanted to read this series forever. With Fairest coming out at the end of the year and me recently purchasing Cinder and Scarlet, this series is at the top of my list.

5. Burn For Burn series by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

   • I love a good revenge plot line so hopefully I’ll love this series. Since Ashes to Ashes has come out, I need to definitely read this series as soon as possible.

6. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

   • This book is on my list for various reasons, the first one being the main character writes fan-fiction, as a used to be writer, that immediately interested me. The second reason, it takes place at college! That is so rare to find! I’ve been past the high school age for around five years now and while I love my Young Adult fiction, I’d love there to be more college related fiction.

7. The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

   • This is another school related novel, I believe. The character sounds pretty relatable. I’ve heard great things about this book so I can’t wait to read it.

8. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

   • I started reading this book years ago and for whatever reason, never finished it. I feel like Fall is the perfect time to finish such a creepy and mysterious book.

9. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

   • I saw the movie repeatedly when it was on HBO months ago and loved it. When I saw this book for cheap on Book Outlet, I knew I had to buy it. This is on my list because zombies and fall just seem to go together.

10. Beastly by Alex Flinn

    • This is another movie I watched before reading the book. It’s been on my TBR (or Want to read) list for a long time since I’ve heard good things about it. Beauty and The Beast is my favorite disney movie so this sounds really good.

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Top Ten(ish) Books On My Fall To-Be Read List That I Don’t Own 

1. Cress by Marissa Meyer

   • The reason for this one goes along with the above. Plus it’s Rapunzel, which I love. 🙂

2. Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

   • This is the finale to Burn For Burn which I’ve yet to read but really want to.

3. Parallel by Lauren Miller

   • I’ve never read a novel involving an alternate reality, so this would be a first to me. I also don’t read much science fiction in general so I can’t wait to try this out.

4. Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

   • I love this future reality where people don’t really get to choose anything, it sounds really interesting and like Parallel,  I can’t wait to read it.

5. Mind Games by Kiersten White

   • This is a psychological thriller, my favorite kind, if I really had a favorite kind of thriller. i love that there’s a family aspect to it.

6. Glory O’Brien’s History of The Future by A.S. King

   • I’ve yet to read an A.S. King book but that will soon change. The premise of the book sounds fascinating, involving a girl taking notes of this seemingly totalitarian future.

7. Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

   • Once again, I love the school aspect, I love the darkness it seems it will have and the mystery surrounding the girls.

8. Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley

   • This book sounds amazing. I love the whole aspect of the military school and hazing is something not commonly seen these days it seems, in fiction.

9. Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke

   • If you saw last week’s Waiting on Wednesday post, you would know there are several reasons I’m looking forward to reading this book. Like Fangirl, it has a school aspect which I love to read about.

10. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

    • Humans and monsters, what more could I say?

11. Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard onward from two

    • Nothing like a mystery series to get me into the Autumn mood. It also helps that the last book comes out in December so I want to get these all read. 🙂

12. The Darkest Part of The Forest by Holly Black

    • Both of Holly Black’s books deal with magical creatures and they seem like they’re be great Halloween books to read.

13. (Don’t You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

    • This sounds like another great creepy read for the Autumn months

14. Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Qinn

    •  Basically the same thing as above, I think I’m looking forward to this one more than than the former.

15. Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs

    • After I read Miss Peregrine’s Home, this is the book I want to read after that to finish off the duology. 🙂 I’ve heard good things about it so I’m excited for it.

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My winter picks are:

1. Winter Town by Stephen Edmond

   • It’s a book called “Winter Town”, it’s obviously destined to be read in Winter time. 🙂

2. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

   • This sounds like a quick, cute romance read which I am all for.

3. Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

   • I think it’s the tragedy and ghost apsects that make me want to read Chasing Brooklyn in winter. This is a free-verse novel which I’ve been trying to explore more so it should be good.

4. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan

   • I remember seeing this in Barnes and Noble and loving the couple I recently purchased this so I’m looking forward to reading it in a couple months.

5. Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

   • Basically the same reason as above, haha. I found the book in Barnes and Noble years ago, the cover intrigued me, I purchased it last week. 🙂 I’ll be reading this along with The Tragedy Paper.

6. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

   • I remember watching the movies years ago and getting creeped out fast, this lead to me then getting creeped out whenever I went somewhere. This was when I was 18, this movie still creeps me out, I need to read the book. Especially the fact when it begins it takes place in winter.

7. Fairest by Marissa Meyer

   • This isn’t a winter themed read but it comes out in January. 🙂 This is the “bridge” between Cress and Winter.

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As you can see, I have a lot of books I want to read in the next few months. Half of which…I do not own. Hmm…That always seems to be a problem. 😦 So I’ll just have to borrow them! Anyway, share with me your fall picks! 🙂

Waiting On Wednesday (#6) (9/3/14)

Hey guys. It’s Wednesday so it’s time for Waiting On Wednesday. This meme is brought to you by Jill at Breaking The Spine. WoW is for sharing books you’re heavily anticipating on reading.

I have two selections this week. 🙂

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All Those Broken Bones by Peter Adam Salomon

Release Date: September 8th, 2014

Published: Flux

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Paranormal 

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository

Goodreads Summary:

Comforted by a shadow. Haunted by the truth.

Richard Anderson was the last person to see his friend Melanie alive. She vanished when they were six and while the police never found Melanie, a part of her remained—a living shadow that is now Richard’s closest friend.

For ten years, Richard has never questioned the shadow that keeps him company . . . until a new girl moves to town, claiming to be Melanie. Desperate to prove the girl is a fake, the shadow leads Richard to the place where her killer buried her bones. But Richard finds skeletons from several different children . . . and evidence suggesting that perhaps the shadow isn’t who she says she is.

Why I Can’t Wait:

This book sounds creepy! I’ll have to be sure to read it with the lights on, during the day, with a house full of people. Haha. It reminds me of a Fear Street book by R.L. Stine. The one with the guy whose girlfriend gets killed when they’re sledding or something? Then a year later he meets a girl and, yeah, that’s all I’m saying about that.

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Get Even (Don’t Get Mad #1) by Gretchen McNeil

Release Date: September 16th, 2014

Published by Balzar & Bray

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository

Goodreads Summary:

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process. 

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

Why I Can’t Wait:

The Breakfast Club + Pretty Little Liars? Why that’s all I needed to hear. 

This sounds fascinating. I’m intruiged with this “club” “Don’t Get Mad”. I wonder what kind of revenge they do exactly. Okay, someone ends up dead, I can only wonder who and how and why. And what person is behind this exactly? I hope this book is well done otherwise…there’s a chance I could be disappointed. 

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Those are my choices, what are yours? Let me know. 🙂

 

Review: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Title:  To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (#1)

Author: Jenny Han

Published: April 15th 2014 (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Pages: 368

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Format:  Hardcover

Source: Purchased

Rating: Four stars

Goodreads Summary:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Cover Thoughts: The cover is completely gorgeous. I love how it gets the title across. I like the cursive title. It’s really feminine just like this book.

First Line: I like to save things.

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~Review~

First Thoughts: 

I love the prologue. In the prologue we discover that Lara Jean writes letters to all of her crushes when she doesn’t want to love them anymore. As a writer I really connected to this aspect of her and it was great to see. I her letters she writes that they free her. I really loved how Jenny Han gave equal time to the family relationship plot and the romance plot. It thought was really well done.

 

Characters:

 I loved the beginning of  this book. I thought Lara Jean’s family was fantastic. I liked getting to know them and seeing them interact with each other. This seemed like it would be a great contemporary romance. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before revolves around Lara Jean, the middle “Song Girl”. When her older sister Margot goes away to college, Lara Jean’s letters she’s kept in a hat box for years are suddenly mailed out. One of the letters goes to the boy next door, Josh, who happens to be Margot’s very recent ex boyfriend. 

Margot is a very type a person who takes on the majority of the load around the house after their mother passes away. Due to this she always puts her sisters first and herself last. I thought this was very kind and respectable of Margot. We can see that Margot really cares about her sisters. I thought Margot was a little uptight at times. She also seemed to think she knew everything which I didn’t like. 

The youngest Song girl is Kitty who’s really named Katherine and she is nine years old. Kitty is an absolute riot. A lot of her remarks to Lara Jean are hilarious. There is a scene when Kitty is mad at Lara Jean for something, Lara Jean asks her to make her a braid and Kitty replies “You don’t deserve a braid from me…besides, a braid would take it too far”. I thought she was very fun to read about and she made me laugh several times. For only being nine years old, Kitty was hilarious, smart, determined and extremely sarcastic, which I loved.

Josh is a typical boy next door with a kind heart. He tries to look out for Lara Jean when Margot leaves. I wasn’t crazy about his character, he was a little boring to me. I found his behavior to be a bit predictable regarding Lara Jean. I could definitely sense some jealousy issues in the plot. I hated how he was so intent on getting Lara Jean to break up with Peter because he wasn’t “good enough for her”.  This was really judgmental of Josh because he didn’t even really know Peter.I thought he was written well enough though, he was a believable character.

I liked Lara Jean well enough. I thought she was a bit childish and naive in regards to some things, the initial plot for instance. A specific incident that comes to mind is when she and Peter are going somewhere and she decides not to sit with him for a ridiculous reason. Another incident is how she got a ride form Josh to school instead of Peter without letting him know because he was late. She was also a bit naive about things. Lara Jean seems to have a dreamlike, everything is perfect, view of love and relationships. At one point in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara says “If you were mine, i never would have left you”. I just found her view of love to be too idealistic and flawless which Peter points out to her. 

I like how Lara Jean grows throughout To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before though. There are several things about Lara that I did enjoy, she wrote letters, she was a romantic, she had a glass unicorn collection and she was interested in the baby names people chose from her father’s deliveries. The biggest thing I could relate to Lara Jean about is her fear of driving. As someone who doesn’t drive, if I were to ever drive, I would be terrified of getting in a wreck or getting lost, which happens to Lara Jean. I loved how Kitty was better at directions than Lara Jean because that’s how my younger sister is too.

Chris, Lara’s best friend took some getting used to. Initially I didn’t care for her given her behavior, she drank, was provocative and didn’t like Margot. At one point she says “Margot doesn’t have normal human emotions like the rest of us”. On the bright side, I thought this was realistic since not everyone approves of their siblings friends. Chris proves to be a loyal friend to Lara Jean which I loved.

Peter is one of the five guys to have received letters from Lara Jean. He is thought to be a bad guy like the rest of the Lacrosse team members. Lara Jean initially writes a list of everything wrong about Peter in her letter to him. I like how Lara Jean discovers there’s much more to Peter than just what she knew about.

Peter was one of my favorite characters. I loved seeing his interactions with Kitty. They were always a highlight. He got along well with Lara Jean’s dad which I also liked. We find out that Peter doesn’t have such a perfect life with his dad being out of the picture. Peter did annoy me at times, mostly when he would get jealous over Josh because Lara Jean and him were only in a fake relationship.

Genevieve is Peter’s on again off again ex girlfriend and Chris’ cousin. Chris and Genevieve do not get along together at all. I found Genevieve reason for disliking Lara Jean for so long to be for a really ridiculous reason.

 

Plot: 

I loved the beginning of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. We meet Lara Jean, her sisters, Margot and Katherine, known as Kitty, and her father. Lara Jean, Margot and Katherine are three of the remaining Song Girls. The fourth was their mother who died when Lara Jean was young. I loved the family aspect that this book had. I thought it was very well done and it made me wish I had sisters like Kitty and Margot. The family aspect in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was a great addition. I liked that there was as much of a family aspect as a romance aspect.

When Lara Jean’s letters are sent out, she’s left to deal with the effects of her old crushes reading their letters. The biggest effect and what launches To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before plot is Margot’s ex boyfriend reading Lara’s letter. We then discover Josh used to have a crush on Lara Jean. In order to cover her tracks. Lara Jean tells Josh she has a boyfriend. A boyfriend whose name happens to be Peter Kavinsky, a lacrosse player and the most popular guy in school.  I always wonder about these girls who decide the best thing to do is to fake having a relationship with someone. This engagement is not without guidelines though, there is little physical touch, 

Peter has recently broke up with Genevieve. In order to make her jealous, he goes along with Lara Jean’s plan to be a fake couple. Right away, I think readers will be able to tell what is going to happen. I loved seeing Peter and Lara Jean hang out together and get to know one another. I thought their relationship was very well developed and believable. The plot of course thickens when the fake relationship becomes more than that and Peter and Lara Jean discover what, or who they really want. I was worried when I read To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before that it would end up as a love triangle or a love square, I can happily say that it isn’t either one really as the story progresses.

 

Overall: 

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was very well written. It was cute, entertaining and hilarious. I mostly glided through this story because it was so easy to read. There are several chapters in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. A lot of the chapters are short with often only one or two events taking up a chapter. I liked the short chapters as it focused on mostly one thing at a time.

Overall I liked To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. I didn’t love the entire book, several things got on my nerves such as Josh’s behavior at times, Margot’s behavior at times and Lara Jean’s occasional childish attitude. I think it’s important though that all of the characters have flaws which were well portrayed. I loved Peter and Kitty the most. This book does end on a cliffhanger which I absolutely hated. That was mostly because I just needed to read more of this story. I needed to know the ending. Fortunately, there will be a sequel coming out so I’m extremely excited for that. This is a great story about family and love that I think readers will enjoy. I expected a little bit more from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Lara Jean wasn’t exactly like the character I had imagined. I rate this four stars since it did drag a bit after Margot left for college but picked up not too far after and I wasn’t crazy about Lara Jean or Josh.

Top Ten Tuesday! (#1) – Top Ten Authors We Own The Most Books From

Hi everyone! It is currently almost ten here on this Tuesday night. Since it is Tuesday, it is Top Ten Tuesday. This is my first edition of this meme which is done by The Broke and The Bookish. Every Tuesday bloggers are encouraged to list ten books in that week’s category. You can go here to find out more and sign up.

This week’s category is Top Ten Authors We Own The Most Books From.

1. John Green (4)

   • I own The Fault In Our Stars, Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. I have currently only read The Fault In Our Stars which basically tore me apart.

2. Laurie Faria Stolarz (4)

   • I own all four of her novels in the Blue Is For Nightmares series.

3. Andrea Boeshaar (3)

   • I own all three books in her Faded Photographs series.

4. Nicholas Sparks (3)

   • I own The Last Song, The Best of Me and The Lucky One. I’m around halfway through The Last Song.

5. Lurlene Mcdaniel (3)

   • I own The Angels Trilogy, True Love (Three Novels),  and The End of Forever, which contains two novels. I’ve read all three of the novels and if you actually wanted to separate the books into singles, Lurlene Mcdaniel would take the lead with eight books. If they weren’t all compiled. 🙂

6. Melody Carlson (3)

   • I own Anything But Normal, Angels In The Snow and one more book. I have read Anything But Normal and Angels In The Snow.

7. Stephanie Perkins (2)

   • I own Anna and The French Kiss and Lola and The Boy Next Door. I have read neither of those.

8. Jennifer E. Smith (2)

   • I own The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight and This Is What Happy Looks Like. I have read The Statistical Probability. . .

9. Gayle Forman (2)

   • I own If I Stay and Where She Went. I’m not too far into If I Stay.

Yes, that is only nine authors. I have my books spread throughout the house so I went by memory. I can’t think of anyone else I have more than one book by though. I don’t own a lot of books by the same authors surprisingly. Anyway, that is my Top Ten List, what is yours? 🙂