PopSugar Challenge: The Start of Me and You

PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge 

Read a Book That Makes You Cry
The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord 

“Okay," he said, leaning closer to me. "I have a proposition for you." Dear God, let it be marriage, I thought.”

It's been a year since Paige's boyfriend died and she is still having trouble getting back to her life. She hates when people give her "the look" and she doesn't want anyones pity. Her junior year has just started though and with it comes new possibilities. All of which she knows she will be sharing with her three best friends. Can Paige really begin living her life again and can she find a new love after such a horrible loss?

Okay, so if you read my blog you know that I am not a huge fan of contemporary. Much of it seems the same and has a feeling of being a bit too young for my 25 year old self. While this book does have the same basic feeling and concept of many other YA contemporaries, I can still say that I enjoyed it. 

What made the book so different from others for me is the unique friendships. I found myself yearning for the three best friends that Paige has. Their relationships with eachother are the ideal. Each one of them is there as a support for each other no matter what. The romance is also very cute in this book but it does take a backseat to the friendship. 

I picked this book for the "Book that made you cry challenge" because it did just that, It made me cry! Between Paiges boyfriend dying, parental phobias, boy troubles, and a bit of PTSD I really couldn't help but having a little waterworks. I just think that is a sign of a well written book if it can get you to care so much about a character that you would cry for them.

Overall this book is pretty generic like most other YA contemporaries that I have read. However, it is enjoyable because it goes slightly beyond the typical and makes you feel something for the characters. 

3.5 stars!

Losing It (REVIEW)

Losing It by Cora Carmack

A Review

“Sex.
I was going to have sex.
With a boy.
A hot boy.
A hot BRITISH boy.
Or maybe I was going to throw up.
What if I threw up on the hot British boy?
What if I threw up on the hot British boy DURING SEX?” 

Losing It is about our main protagonist Bliss and her V card. Yes, she is still a virgin at 22 and she pretty much believes this to be a crime. See the thing is that Bliss just isn't interested in guys or relationships. That is until she meets the sexy and smart Garrick in a bar. This is supposed to be just a one night stand but what if Garrick is everything she's ever been looking for? What if he is also the forbidden fruit?

I truly loved this story and thought that it was adorable. I love Bliss's enternal monolouge and her stream of consciousness thoughts (like the quote above). She just talks in a way that is so darn relatable.

The characters are all cute and funny and the entire book is light and fluffy. I know many of you might be thinking that all "New Adult" books seem the same and I would have to agree with you to an extent. I mean it's usually girl and boy fall in love, there is some issue, boy and girl have lots of sex! Haha. This one really isn't any different but it is just so cute that I couldn't help but love it. 

I was also really happy that I got to read this with my new subscription to Scribd.com. This is a pretty awesome website that has a lot of popular books to read for a cheap monthly fee. The rest of the companion series is on the site plus the Losing It novella and I seriously can't wait to have time to read them. These kind of cute romantic books are kinnda like crack to me. :-)

4 stars!

Top Ten Tuesday: Inspiring Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday: Inspiring Quotes 

This series of top 10's was created by The Broke and the Bookish and there is a great new topic every Tuesday. I will put the link to her blog below so you can check her out and all of the other great Top 10 posts!

So this weeks topic is "quotes that inspire you". If you are reading this right now you can see that I did not post this on Tuesday. I am pretty much in love with quotes though (I have hundreds of them "liked" on my Goodreads) so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a whole post based on them.

Okay, let's get to it!

1.I wonder if that's how darkness wins, by convincing us to trap it inside ourselves, instead of emptying it out. I don't want it to win. 

-Jasmine Warga My Heart and Other Black Holes

2. Don't worry. They're all against me. But I have one advantage: they don't know what they want. I do.

-Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

3. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human. 

V.E Schwab Vicious

4. "I don't think..." Then you shouldn't talk said the hatter. 

Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland

5. I had one rule: respect. For me, my family, and for my friends...It might sound hypocritical to the women that have passed through my apartment door, but if they carried themselves with respect, I would have given it to them. 

Jaime McGuire Walking Disaster

6. A building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom. 

Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

7. "Do you mean to tell me that you're thinking seriously of building that way, when and if you are an architect?"

"Yes"

"My dear fellow, who will let you?"

"That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?"

Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

8. Surely you've seen through that particular stupidity. I mean the one that claims the pig is the symbol of love for humanity--the creature that accepts anything. As a matter of fact, the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him.

-Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

9.All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.

-Chuck Palahniuk Invisible Monsters

10. Stupid people are dangerous. 

-Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

As you can see I find Ayn Rand very quotable. I could have easily made these 10 all about her but I thought it would be more fun with some variety :-)

Have a great day bookworms!

http://www.brokeandbookish.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html

Top 5 Wednesday: Most Frustrating Characters

Top 5 Wednesday: Most Frustrating Characters

This weekly meme is hosted by Lainey at gingerreadslainey. I will put a link below for the Goodreads page if you wanna check out all of the other fabulous Wednesdayers!

So this week is all about characters we find frustrating. I honestly don't find too many characters to be frustrating but I think I can come up with 5. 

1. Bella Swan. I feel like this is probably a pretty standard response. I mean she can just be so DUMB. The entirety of her existence depends upon whether or not a guy likes her which is just annoying. I did enjoy these books though for what it's worth. 

2. Any of the characters from Looking for Alaska. Yes, I absolutely hated them all but I guess I would have to put Alaska right there at the top. 

3. Rebecca Bloomwood. Holy cow I absolutely hated this character. It was actual torture to read an entire book about such a self-obsessed and terrible person. 

4. Mia from the If I Stay duology. I just found Mia very unlikable. She really wasn't concerned with anyone but herself and she pretty much treated Adam like crap. 

5. Tris Prior. I actually do like Tris a lot but there is such a thing as too stubborn. Her willingness to constantly put herself in danger was a little troublesome at times. 

Well there you have it! Those are my most frustrating characters (that I can come up with right now). Who do you think is the most frustrating character you've ever read about?

Have a great day bookworms!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1608567-complete-list-of-wednesday-ers

PopSugar Challenge: A Darker Shade of Magic

PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge

Read A Book With Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab

“I'm not going to die," she said. "Not till I've seen it."

"Seen what?"

Her smile widened. "Everything.”

 

A Darker Shade of Magic could not have had a more delightful plot if it had tried. The story is set in a place called Red London. It's a place where magic thrives but is respected and used with reverence by the people. There are other London's though including Grey, White, and Black. Grey London has long ago forgotten about magic, White London is dying and the people there seek to dominate magic, Black London has succumbed to magic and now ceases to exist. Our main character Kell, is Antari which means he can travel between the London's using blood magic. He is one of only two Antari left. At the start of his adventure he meets a girl named Delilah Bard (an aspiring pirate) when she steals a black rock he has recently come upon. The black rock is pure magic and power and it has come from Black London. If the wrong people get ahold of this rock it could be disastrous. Kell and Delilah must find a way to get it back through the doors to Black London but at what cost? 

As you can tell from the synopsis, this book has SOOO much potential and because of this it was my most anticipated book of 2015. After reading it though I can say that I am disappointed. I truly wanted to love this book and I thought I would. I mean who could not love a story about pirates, different worlds, and magic? I must be a monster right? Well I still do think the plot is amazing and the characters were intriguing. I believe it was the writing in the end that didn't live up to my expectations. 

Talking about and critiquing someones writing style is so personal and every person will have a different feeling about it. It is such a intangible concept and is so hard to put a finger on and say "oh yes, this particular thing is what I don't like". However, I will say that even though the plot was one of the most intriguing I've ever heard of, I still found myself putting the book down after only about 15 pages and forcing myself to pick it up again the next day. The characters were also paper thin and they felt unrealistic. For example, Lila is only a pirate and Kell is only Antari. No other faucets of their characters were revealed. I have found that if you can't truly care about the characters then you probably wont be able to like the book. 

I read Schwab's other adult novel, Vicious, at the beginning of the year and honestly felt the same way about it. The characters were very one dimensional and the writing just didn't pull me in. I constantly felt like I was in a theatre watching a play from afar instead of being right in the writings action. I must say though that Schwab certainly knows how to come up with unique plot ideas. They are fresh and pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Overall though I just wish they were executed a little better. 

I still gave this book a three star rating even though I probably normally would have given any other book like it a two star. I just couldn't though given how much I like the IDEA of this book. I feel like I will always think of it fondly just based on it's plot alone, no matter how poor the execution was. 

Have a great day bookworms! 

Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Wanted to Start Yesterday

Top 5 Wednesday 

Books You Wanted to Start Yesterday

This blog series was created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey and there is a Top 5 Wednesday group on Goodreads. Here is the link if you want to check out other Top 5 blog posts or videos: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1608567-complete-list-of-wednesday-ers.

This weeks topic is books that you wanted to start yesterday. I could honestly probably list at least 20 books for this topic so I guess let's get on with it!

1. Hook by K.R Thompson

I have wanted to read this book every since it came out! It interests me because I am a huge Captain Hook fan when it comes to OUAT and this book is about his backstory! I could not be more excited. 

2. Captive in the Dark by C.J Roberts

This is a dark and gritty novel about sex trafficking and romance. I know those two things don't sound like they go together. I need to fill the void that 50 Shades of Grey left!

3. The One by Kiera Cass

I read the Selection the beginning of this year and fell in love with it! Unfortunately I have yet to pick up this second book. 

4. The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

This is the same problem I am having with The One! Grrrr

5. Lying out Loud by Kody Keplinger

I wish I had read this yesterday but it hasn't been published yet!!

Have a great day bookworms! 

Top 10 Tuesday: Characters You Want to Check-in With

Top 10 Tuesday

Characters You Want to Check-In With

The top 10 Tuesday blog series was created by the people over at the Broke and the Bookish. I will link their site down below if you want to check them out. This weeks theme is characters you want to revisit. This means characters that you want to catch up with after the book or book series has finished. All of the books or series that I mention below have characters in them in wish I want to know more. There are so many books in which I wonder what happened to the characters after the books ended. Let's get on with it them!

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is definitely my number 1 book for this theme. I so badly want to know more about what happened in the life of Katniss, Peeta, and their children. The ending of this story wasn't wrapped up very well and I feel like I NEED to know more!

2. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

I would love to know what college is like for Wesley and Bianca and whether or not they stay together for the long haul. Keplinger's new book, Lying Out Loud is coming out soon though so I hope that there is a bit of Wesley and Bianca in it. 

3. Beautiful/Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

I need more Travis and Abby in my life. Need I say more?

4. Vicious by V.E Schwab

SPOILERS!! I would really like to read about what happens to Eli after he is arrested and whether or not Victor still has his powers after he comes back from the dead.

5. All three of Stephanie Perkins novels

It would be so cute to read more about Anna, Lola, and Isla and I would pretty much pick up anything written by Stephanie Perkins at this point. 

6. Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling

Okay, so pretty much everyone thinks I'm crazy because I'm not absolutely in love with his series. However, I am just as interested as everyone else to know what happens in the adult lives of all the characters. I would love to see everyones jobs, marriages, and kids. Just generally life after Hogwarts. 

7. If I Stay duology by Gayle Forman

SPOILERS!! The end of Where She Went has the main characters getting back together near the end of the book.  This means that between the first and second book we as readers get only a small glimpse of the romantic relationship between the two. I would love to have a whole other book just talking about life after they found each other again. 

8. Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E.L James

Do Christian and Anastasia stay together or does their infatuation die down after a time?

9. The Twilight Saga by  Stephanie Meyer

I'm not actually a huge fan of this series. I am interested though in learning more about the later years of Edward and Bella's relationship. Since they are immortal I feel like there is still plenty to find out about them. 

10. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

This is another story where the family is immortal. I wish I could see more of what became of Winnie and the Tuck family's life.

http://www.brokeandbookish.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html