WWW

WWW (October 9)

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W.W.W. Wednesday’s is hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along all you have to do is answer three simple questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am back to reading Killer Image by Wendy Tyson.

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What did you recently finish?

I just finished reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and dear gosh did I love it! Also, it broke my heart.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Either Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger or some YA contemporary book. Not too sure yet.

Adult Contemporary, Reviews

Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

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Synopsis:

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

My Initial Thoughts:

At first, I didn’t think I would love this book. I was a little put off because I imagined a 20/40 age thing, but I am so happy I was wrong.

I know this is an adult fiction book if we are putting labels, but a lot of people in the YA book aficionado community loved it, so I decided to give it a chance. (It also helps that I won the audiobook of Me Before You in a giveaway)

Review:

Oh My, Me Before You just blew me away. I don’t know if it was because I had no expectations when it came to this author or that I knew nothing of the story, but I fell head over heels with this book.

In the first few chapters as the author was setting the stage, I was a little bored. I believe part of the reason for that was because I am not from London, nor am I English. Reading a book set in England, with English characters who are culturally and geographically English kinda threw me off at first. In a way I could explain it as I was culturally shocked. I got over it pretty quickly though.

Will and Lou are the main characters in this story and the antagonist in the book would be Will’s disability. As stated in the synopsis, Will was leading a very normal life for a man of his stature until the day he was a pedestrian victim of a motorcyclist accident. Lou on the other hand is a average, drama-free 27 year old girl who has the burden of supporting her entire family and carries a dark secret that no one knows.

Two unlikely people meet under very unfortunate circumstances, but something heartbreakingly beautiful comes out of it. The themes of pain, friendship, loyalty, and the very controversial topic of assisted suicide are seen constantly through the novel.

As I was reading the story, I felt everything Lou felt. Every discovery, every high and low, I felt it all. We do get to see the POV of a few other characters throughout the book, but for the most part, we see everything through the same lens, through Lou.

The Epilogue made my chest feel tight with emotion, and to bear with the bittersweetness of it all I have created an alternate ending to the book where I get the ending I wish I would have gotten. Me Before You does not have a bad ending, I just wanted something else.

Overall, this book surprised me. It made me love a whole new world, and become attached to a bunch of characters I normally wouldn’t meet. Me Before You was beautifully written.

Rating: 5/5

Disclaimer: I do not want to spoil this book for anyone, but without spoiling it I will say that I am not for assisted suicide. I may be judged harshly for this statement, but that is my answer to this touchy subject. I may understand why people do it, but I do not condone their actions. 

Editor Letter

Reading slump?

Hello lovely readers. This week I have something to discuss with you all and that is the so called “reading slump” and that I have been affected by it in some form or way this September and a bit this month.

I haven’t posted many book reviews because I’ve been reading for fun at times or I’ve picked up five different books which after reading only 30 pages or less, I have abandoned them. I don’t even want to update my goodreads current reading list because I keep adding and taking off books.

For a book blogger not reading is dangerous because that means no book review posts and honestly, I love to write those things even though every time I have to write one I moan on the inside and dread it. I believe a part of the reason I do is because I want to convey my words the best possible way without sounding cliche or boring. I also want to do the book and author justice by writing a good review (not talking about rating, but about the quality of my review).

I believe that my dread of writing book reviews, my busy schedule, my internship, and other things going on have pushed me into some sort of reading slump. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but after running this blog for almost a year now, I panic if I can’t read. It almost feels like the end of the world. How can I do features if I’m not reading much?

How do you all deal with the pressure of having to constantly read?

(Also, I’ve finally gotten interested in a book and I’m halfway through it… The sad part… It’s not a part of my to do a book review for pile. Oops.)

– Veronica

Book Spotlight

Book Spotlight #13 Liar Society (Liar Society #1) by Lisa & Laura Roecker

Last week there was a bit of a hiccup over at The Talking Bookworm and a Book Spotlight segment was not published. This week though, things are back in motion and today’s recommendation involves mystery, secret societies, and murder. If you like all three of those genres, then this is the book for you!

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Book Title: Liar Society (Liar Society #1)

Author: Lisa & Laura Roecker

Originally Published: March 1st, 2011

Goodreads Summary:

Kate Lowry didn’t think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I’m here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn’t be writing.
Don’t tell.
They’ll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder…

Uncategorized

ARC HAUL #1

I was recently approved for several ARC’s on NetGalley and Edelwiness. I was so excited to see that I was approved for all of these books that I almost did a happy dance.

These are the ARC’s I received:

(Click on the image to go to its Goodreads page!)

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Lot’s of good books!

I will be tackling Waterfell this week and I’ll post up a review of it soon!

Happy Reading,

Veronica

Reviews, YA Mystery

Short Book Review: United We Spy (Gallagher Girls #6) by Ally Carter

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Edition: US Barnes & Nobles Exclusive Edition 2013

Goodreads Summary:

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

Review:

I reread the first 4 books in the series and skimmed the fifth one in order to get ready for the final book in the Gallagher Girls series. It was a very wise decision on my part because I had forgotten a lot of key details of the series (I read the first book in 2008).

United We Spy is exactly what I wanted in the last book of this amazing series. I was blown away by how well everything was tied together so neatly. We were able to see all of our favorite characters and we even found out information that we didn’t know we wanted until the moment Ally Carter put that little seed of information in our head. I’m trying really hard not to spoil the novel for those who have not read the Gallagher Girls series, but know that I was blown away by this book.

I devoured United We Spy in one sitting. The book felt too short for my liking and the ending left me with so many questions, but any other ending would have not done Cammie justice. We got a lot of Zach & Cammie moments, and we blessed with the presence of some characters we hadn’t seen in a few books.

I am absolutely happy with how the series ended, but at the same time I am bummed out that I will not be waiting another year for the next Gallagher Girls book as I have been doing since 2008.

What HP is to other people, Gallagher Girls is to me.

I was a Gallagher Girl through High School, College, and now as a Post-Graduate trying to tackle the world. Even though this series has ended, I will always be a Gallagher Girl.

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Rating: 5/5

WWW

WWW (September 25)

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W.W.W. Wednesday’s is hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along all you have to do is answer three simple questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you reading?

I am currently reading The Trouble with Flirting by Claire Lazebnik.

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What did you recently finish?

I recently finished reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Opal by Jennifer Armentrout or Where She Went by Gayle Forman.  I’m not too sure which one.

Where She Went

Tuesday Meme

Top Ten Best Sequels Ever

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Thank you The Broke and the Bookish for this wonderful Tuesday Meme

It seems we have been doing a lot of lists about sequels or… is that just me thinking that? This week we have our Top Sequels Of All Time! Since I’ve been reading a lot of sequels lately and I’ve loved most of them so obviously they are going on this list. Here we go!

Veronica’s List:

1. The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell (Bloodline #3) by Richelle Mead

2. United We Spy by Ally Carter

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3. Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

4. Onyx by Jennifer Armentrout

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5. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

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Anjie’s List

6. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

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7. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

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8. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

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9. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

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10. The Elite by Kiera Cass

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Special Review

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell Part 1 (Chapter 1-12)

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Let’s talk about Fangirl.

The first person we meet is Cath. She is walking into her dorm room and she finds a boy in there. A Boy. Cath starts freaking out, but soon she finds out he is her roommate’s boyfriend. Crisis averted, or so she thought.

In the first twelve chapters we see how much Cath is afraid of change. She likes to be where things are familiar, where they are steady. She likes to be the one who takes care of people, and not the other way around. A lot of girl characters nowadays are written this way, where they are “self-less” “against change” “nerdy” but Cath is not selfless, she may help others, but she doesn’t want others to get her out of the little security she has managed. Cath is real.Cath is the fangirl and fanboy out there that uses books and writing to escape. She isn’t this super nice and humble person, she is a human being with faults and cracks.

Let’s talk about Nick. I don’t exactly know what my feelings toward Nick are except that they are… cautious. I like him because he is helping Cath get out a little more and in a way that she can cope with, writing. If Nick fades into the picture after the first twelve chapters, I am okay with that because he has already helped her enough and to me he has served his purpose in Cath’s life. Honestly, I’m Team Levi. I’m cool if Nick just… disappears. 

Levi and Reagan. Can I just say how much I love these two, and each for very different reasons. I would have loved for Reagan to be my roommate in college. She and I would hit it off instantly. I wasn’t one to bond with my roommates too much. My freshman year I had bad roommates and what made matters worse was that my school was all about solving issues in a tell me about your feelings manner. That isn’t exactly helpful when dealing with bad roommate issues. I myself was dealing with a lot my freshman year and I wanted people to let me be and not change me into something I wasn’t. Yes, I was a bit of a rebel you could say. Anyways back to the story. I love that Reagan helped Cath overcome her block and made her go to the dining room with her and eat. After that, things got better instantly. Reagan was not a let’s do our nails and be girly stuff, she was doing her own thing and if she could, she helped others on the way. I like people that don’t get into my business and I think that is one of the reasons why Cath was cool with Reagan.

Now, Levi is also good for Cath, but for different reasons. He is quirky and nice. A good combination in my opinion. But what made me instantly like him was not just his easy, non-challant manner, but that he observed Cath enough that he knew she wasn’t really eating except for those darn protein bars. He ate her protein bars in order to make her deal with the issue. I would have reacted the same way as Cath, NO ONE TOUCHES MY FOOD, but at the same time, I would have been okay with it and put up with Levi like Cath did. After that, things change between Cath and she gets used to having quirky Levi around.

Cath and Wren were barely talking when their freshman year of college began and with their mother trying to return into their lives, it breaks the last fragile line that was holding both sisters together. They both completely stop talking. Neither one saying anything to the other. Never before has Cath been so alone.

Let’s quickly discuss WREN. She is dealing with her issues very differently than Cath, which I can understand but do not approve of. What really pissed me off was when Cath ran of to rescue her sister to find her drunk and Wren simply saying, Oh I texted the wrong C, I was trying to text Courtney. The one time Wren reaches out to Cath and it’s all a fluke. I was so mad.

Cath is dealing with a MIA mother trying to come back into her life, getting out of her comfort zone with no one to help her buffer the world, Simon Snow coming to an end soon, Abel breaking up with her, and a unstable dad she wishes she were home to take care of. That is some crazy stuff happening in her life and I think she handles it pretty well when assessing the circumstances.

I am proud of her so far and I know her journey is just beginning. And you know what guys, we will be there with her every step of the way.