Monthly Wrap-up: August 2013

Monthly Wrap-up is a feature where I show you all that I reviewed and read.

I'll also tell you little tidbits of my life while I'm at it ;)

{Blog Tour} {Review} Smash Into You - Shelly Crane

Smash Into You by Shelly Crane
Genre: 
Release Date: Aug 13 / 2013

Jude has spent the whole twenty one years of his life running. From what, he wasn't quite sure. His mother tried to keep him safe; a low profile, a constant move on the horizon, a week's pay always stashed away. She tried to instill in him that he was special somehow, though would never elaborate. He never felt different. He was so completely normal and vanilla that he wondered if it had all been in her head. But then she was murdered and all he saw was a running silhouette of a man as his mother said three final words to him. Three words that changed his whole being.

Never stop running…

Now he's semi-settled into a big town. The college is huge and easy to blend into. It's been three months since he had to move because 'Biloxi', as he calls the man who killed his mother, found him once more.

Then Marley, an eighteen year old girl who is as infuriating as she is blissfully ignorant of her gorgeousness, smashes into his car with hers. Then smashes into his life as he realizes that whatever it is he has that Biloxi wants, she has it, too. And now, they're after them both.

{Mini Review} Between the Lines - Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer

Between the Lines 
By Jodi Picoult & Samantha van Leer
Release Date: Jun 26 / 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse

New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult and her teenage daughter present their first-ever novel for teens, filled with romance, adventure, and humor.What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

I was really excited for this one as it talks about a fictional character coming to life. And... I was greatly disappointed. I found myself actually quite bored throughout the whole book and I had to use all my willpower to read it until the very end. The ending wasn't all that great either. While Oliver did make it out of the book, I think the solution isn't good. I had hoped this would be good but it isn't :(

Waiting on Wednesday #40 - Red

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating

{Weekly Craving} August 2013 #4

Weekly Craving is a feature where I show you what's newly released on my TBR

{Review} Pivot Point - Kasie West

Pivot Point by Kasie West
Genre: YA Paranormal
Release Date: Feb 12 / 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Stacking the Shelves #44

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

that shows what we got in our haul each week

{Review} A Taylor-Made Life - Kary Rader

A Taylor-Made Life by Kary Rader
Genre: NA Romance
Release Date: Jul 18 / 2013

They lived the life they were given; they loved the life they made.

Cheerleader Taylor Smith doesn’t want to die a virgin. Unfortunately, if the terminally-ill leukemia patient doesn't find a lover or a stem-cell match within months, her fear will become reality. When her cancer mentor is revealed to be a hottie entrepreneur from California, it seems fate might finally be on her side.

Tech-geek Gavin Taylor has everything he ever wanted, except someone to grieve for him when he's gone. With his melanoma cancer beyond the help of his riches, he agrees to participate in a cancer patient mentoring program where he's matched with a dying teen from Texas. Despite his immediate attraction, the Silicon Valley whiz intends only to provide friendship and happy memories to the beautiful, young woman who is determined to win his love.

When it's discovered that his frozen sperm and her harvested eggs could lead to a cure, Taylor's mother offers to be a surrogate. And Gavin must decide if he can risk the heart he has never given and a child he'll never know to a girl he just met.

{Movie Review} Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures
Release Date: Feb 14 / 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: PG-13
Length: 124 mins

In Gatlin, South Caroline, the teenager Ethan Wate dreams on leaving the conservative town and go to the college. Ethan has dreams with a mysterious girl and when he meets the fifteen year-old newcomer Lena Duchannes in his class, he realizes that she is the girl of his dreams. The outcast Lena is rejected by the mates since she is the granddaughter of Macon Ravenwood, who is considered a worshiper of the devil by the superstitious dwellers. Ethan gives a ride to Lena and they fall in love with each other. Soon he learns that Lena is a good witch that on her sixteenth birthday will be claimed by the light and the darkness. She may stay in the light, but is cursed to change to the dark side if she falls in love with him. Further, her evil mother Sarafine is a caster that is pushing Lena to the dark side. Now they are seeking a spell to save their doomed love. Will the lovers succeed?

Waiting on Wednesday #39 - Wild Cards

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating

A to Z Bookish Survey

I recently saw this survey over at Eveline's Books and thought this was super fun! The A to Z Bookish Survey was originally created by The Perpetual Page-Turner. Feel free to join in and have some fun!

{Weekly Craving} August 2013 #3

Weekly Craving is a feature where I show you what's newly released on my TBR

{Review} Etiquette & Espionage - Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
Series: Finishing School #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: Feb 5 / 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School. Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education. Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore.

Stacking the Shelves #43

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

that shows what we have in our haul each week

{Review} Confessions of an Angry Girl - Louise Rozett

Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: August 28 / 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make….

1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

(Sorry. That was rude.)

{Mini Review} Bystander - James Preller

Bystander by James Preller
Genre: YA realistic fiction
Release Date: Sept 29 / 2009
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Eric is the new kid in seventh grade. Griffin wants to be his friend. When you’re new in town, it’s hard to know who to hang out with—and who to avoid. Griffin seems cool, confident, and popular.

But something isn't right about Griffin. He always seems to be in the middle of bad things. And if Griffin doesn't like you, you'd better watch your back. There might be a target on it.

As Eric gets drawn deeper into Griffin’s dark world, he begins to see the truth about Griffin: he’s a liar, a bully, a thief. Eric wants to break away, do the right thing. But in one shocking moment, he goes from being a bystander . . . to the bully’s next victim.

I've never read many books about bullying before so this was my first. Eric is the new kid in seventh grade and Griffin seems to be a good friend. But later, Eric slowly finds out how Griffin is really like and what a bully he was. Eric later tries to do stuff about it which works but I feel like the issue isn't really resolved in the end. Eric just stopped being the target, that's all. I think this book should've went more in depth for the bullying as it's something that kids deal with every day. This is a quick and light read about bullying that I'm sure people will enjoy.

Waiting on Wednesday #38 - Fault Line

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

{Blog Tour} {Review} Steel Lily - Megan Curd

Steel Lily by Megan Curd
Series: The Periodic Series #1
Genre: YA Dystopia
Release Date: Aug 20 / 2013

Avery Pike is a commodity. No, more than a commodity. Her existence is guarded at all costs.

She’s a water Elementalist, the strongest of her dwindling kind. She creates steam to provide energy to fuel Dome Four: the only thing standing between humanity and an earth ravaged by World War III. No steam, no Dome. No Dome, no life.

Or so she thinks.

That is, until a mysterious man offers her a way out of having to donate steam. A way to escape the corrupt government of Dome Four. While the offer seems too good to be true, Avery is intrigued.

But when she arrives to her new home, she realizes the grass isn’t any less dead on this side of the fence. Instead, the lies are just hidden better.

…Which means digging deeper.

When Avery enlists the help of her friends to uncover the truth, she learns that while some secrets are better left concealed, humankind was never meant to live in a cage. And when you can control the most sought after resource, you can learn to control anything…including the fate of your world.

{Weekly Craving} August 2013 #2

Weekly Craving is a feature where I show you what's newly released on my TBR

{Review} The Elite - Kiera Cass

The Elite by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #2
Genre: YA Fantasy / Dystopia
Release Date: Apr 23 / 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

The hotly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller The Selection.

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

Stacking the Shelves #42

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

that shows what books we have in our haul that week

{Review} The Colossus Rises - Peter Lerangis

The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis
Series: Seven Wonders #1
Genre: MG Mythology
Release Date: Feb 5 / 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins

One Boy
Jack McKinley is an ordinary kid with an extraordinary problem. In a few months, he’s going to die.
Jack needs to find seven magic loculi that, when combined, have the power to cure him.
One Problem
The loculi are the relics of a lost civilization and haven’t been seen in thousands of years.
Seven Wonders
Because they’re hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

{Movie Review} Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful
Release Date: Mar 8 / 2013
Genre: Adventure & Fantasy
Rating: PG
Length: 130 min

Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. Written by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Waiting on Wednesday #37 - Vicious

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating

{Weekly Craving} August 2013 #1

Weekly Craving is a feature where I show you what's newly released on my TBR

{Review} Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: Feb 26 / 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we're 16."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
"I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be."
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

{Review} For Darkness Shows the Stars - Diana Peterfreund

For Darkness Shows the Stars 
By Diana Peterfreund
Release Date: Jun 12 / 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology. Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go. But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever. Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

{Review} Dare You To - Katie McGarry

Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #2
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: May 28 / 2013
Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

{Mini Review} The Keep - Veronica Wolff

The Keep by Veronica Wolff
Series: The Watchers #4
Genre: YA Paranormal
Release Date: Jun 4 / 2013
Publisher: NAL Trade

Just because you work for the dead doesn't mean you want to join them.

Drew has just started her second year on the Isle of Night, and the weather isn’t the only thing changing drastically. She has ascended to the rank of Initiate. She’s also found an intimate love in the handsome vampire, Carden. But most of all, she no longer dreams of escape. She dreams of vengeance.

Her friend, Emma, was brutally wounded by the savage vampire Alcántara, and may have been taken to the dreaded castle, from which none of the living return. But there are so many different stories from so many people with so many of their own deceits and machinations, Drew can’t be sure of anything—except that she must find a way into the castle to discover the truth and take down Alcántara once and for all.

But Drew isn’t the only one out for revenge. Someone very dangerous on the island is also out for blood…

Hers…

To sum up my feeling about this word in one simple way is this gif right here:

The thing that stopped me from finishing this book is Drew and the lack of a plot. Drew is now hated by all the girls because they said that she killed her best friend and keeps all the boys to herself. Or something like that. If she has like 3 (maybe 4) boys/vampires after her, then so be it. Let the other girls be bitches. But Drew keeps complaining about them and she's being mean right back. Drew's attitude is really mean and I couldn't put up with her in this book. What's with her insecurity when her boyfriend left anyways? When Carden (bf) left, she isn't strong anymore. She became this weak girl who complains a lot. Her obsession with the keep also gets a lot on my nerves. Then there's the lack of the plot. Besides her obsessing over her friend's death somehow connected to the keep and her trying to juggle three boys, there's literally nothing that's worth reading about.