I really love book spotlights because they give me a chance to feature a book that may not be featured otherwise that I love. This week we have The Selection, which is dystopian meets the bachelor meets a complicated love triangle. It seems to me that a lot of people haven’t read this book yet and I want to remedy that. It is a great book and the second book in the trilogy is out as well.
Book Title: The Selection
Author: Kiera Cass
Originally Published: 2012
Goodreads Summary:
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.(
This week we have “Top Ten Beach Reads” which to me doesn’t mean anything since I never go to the beach. Yes, I do live in California. Yes, I know it can almost be classified as a sin if a Californian doesn’t go to the beach. My response? Too bad. The way I am going to do this Top Ten Tuesday is that I will imagine that I like to go to the beach and what books I would read at the beach, if you know, I did the whole beach thing. Now, let’s do this!
Day 9: A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
“For me that would have to be Clockwork Angel. City of Bones had not impressed me and I wasn’t sure I would like Cassandra Clare’s new Shadow-hunter series, but I was wrong. It was a good surprise.”
This month I have chosen The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot to be featured in my Book Blast from the Past Feature. When I was 13, The Princess Diaries series was my favorite series and it helped me get through middle school which was a hard time for me because I was the new girl in a new place.
Originally Published: 2001
Copy Read: Princess Diaries Collection (#1-3)
Publisher: Harper Teen (A HarperCollins Publishers Imprint)
Goodreads Summary:
She’s just a New York City girl living with her artist mom…
News Flash: Dad is prince of Genovia. (So that’s why a limo meets her at the airport!)
Downer: Dad can’t have any more kids. (So no heir to the throne.)
Shock of the Century: Like it or not, Mia Thermopolis is prime princess material.
Mia must take princess lessons from her dreaded grandmére, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.
Well, her father can lecture her until he’s royal-blue in the face about her princessly duty–no way is she moving to Genovia and leaving Manhattan behind. But what’s a girl to do when her name is Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo?
Review:
The last time I read this book was in 2004. I had forgotten how witty Mia is and how hilarious Mia and Lilly are together. I swooned for Michael at 13, and I swooned at 22 again. My 13 year old self enjoyed this book, and today my 22 year old self is enjoying it as well. Mia deals with real life problems, even if some people would classify them as first world problems, but they are real problems nonetheless. Problems like the separation of parents, love life problems, having to deal with your mother dating other people that is not your father, and dealing with family that you are not exactly fond of. We will all have those issues at some point [if we don’t already] in our lives and Mia helps us see how bad it can get, but also that it isn’t all horrible. The Princess Diaries is a book that can be enjoyed by many, and the witty lines in the book only adds to its amazing-ness (Yes, I am aware “amazing-ness” is not a real word.)
Rating: 5/5
Rating System:
1/5: I hate it.
2/5: It had some redeeming qualities but overall, not a good book.
3/5: I like it /A fun read.
4/5: I really like it, but something is missing.
5/5: I love it! It’s as close to perfection as it can get!
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen.
On Goodreads it has a 4.40 rating. I can’t believe it. The book is poorly written and it’s horrible. I think I skimmed about half of it because of the R-rated content it had. That book needs a warning label. Serisouly. (I think everyone knows by now I dislike books that have explicit sex scenes in them.)
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
What I like:
I absolutely adored the relationship between Augustus and Hazel. I loved the humor and the witty lines in this book. I was pleasantly surprised because I was expecting something along the lines of an Abundance of Katherines and Looking for Alaska hybrid and it wasn’t. I am not one to love every part of a book; I can always find something wrong with it, but this book just left me breathless and actually made me shed a tear. A tear for me is the equivalence of others sobbing. The letter at the end that Augustus wrote was beautiful. It left me gasping for breathe with how beautifully written it was.
What I dislike:
The only complaint I have with this book is how the relationship of Augustus and Hazel ended up turning out in the end.
Overall:
I cannot express how much I love this book so I will just say it was brilliant and it will not be easily forgotten.
Rating: 5/5
Rating System:
1/5: I hated it.
2/5: It had some redeeming qualities but overall, not a good book.
“My favorite book in the Vampire Academy Series would have to be Shadow Kiss.”
Day 5: A book that makes you happy
“A book that makes me happy is Divergent by Veronica Roth. I know that is a weird choice, but ugh, it makes me happy in so many ways.”
Day 6: A book that makes you sad
“The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. That book ripped me to shreds.”
Day 7: Most underrated book
“Love Story by Jennifer Echols. I don’t know anyone else that has read it except for myself and one other person and I let that person borrow the book.”
Good Morning to all who live in the pacific west coast of the USA like myself. To everyone else… Hello!
First, I want to apologize for not posting Day 4 or Day 5 of the 30 Day Book Challenge. I’ve been really busy with job interviews, job search, and other responsibilities.
Second, I have a goodie for you all! Last night I went to Richelle Mead’s Event at Barnes & Nobles in Santa Monica, CA. I will be posting a special post on that event very soon! We have some information on The Fiery Heart, Gameboard of the Gods, and Blood Sisters updates! I will of course not give too much away for the sake of courtesy but I will have pictures and some of her responses to the Q&A session. Lastly, there will be pictures! I already posted one of myself with Richelle Mead at the event over at my tumblr.
That is all the news I have for you and please be patient with me this week. Hope you’re all having a lovely week.
The Talking Bookworm 