Archives for August 2015

TOP TEN TUESDAY | Most Read Authors

August 11, 2015 Comments : 10

[quote]Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where we list our top tens![/quote]

This week’s topic is “top ten authors I’ve read the most books from.” What I learned from this Top Ten is that I have read a lot of authors who write Children/Middle Grade books or romances, and not enough from Young Adult authors. I couldn’t find a lot of YA authors that I’ve read more than 5 books from, which was a bit disappointing, but hey, that’s just motivation to read more books!

Let’s see which authors I’ve read a lot from.

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LEMONY SNICKET

A Series of Unfortunate Events #1-11, All the Wrong Questions #1-2, The Composer Is Dead

All books from Lemony Snicket were a staple in my life when I was younger. I devoured those books like my life depended on it because I needed to know what happened to the Baudelaire children. I was invested! I adored the writing because it was so clever. (However, although I’m a massive fan of Lemony Snicket, I never did read the last two books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I can’t remember why, but it may have been because I didn’t have access to the last two books and I didn’t want to see it end!)

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PHYLLIS REYNOLDS NAYLOR

Alice series

I totally forgot about this series! Such a classic! I read soooo many of books from the Alice series when I was a sixth grader. I remember spending most of my lunches at the library, and reading the Alice books. I think it was the first series that gave me a taste of what my pre-teen and teen years will look like. I would count the minutes until I could return to those books. It sucked though at times because I was reading along with my best friend, and if she took one of the books from the series, I had to wait for her to finish. Not fun!

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Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW | Not for Me, Everything Everything

August 10, 2015 Comments : 3

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.[/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Random House Kids in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “I’ve read many more books than you.”

You know what Everything Everything kind of remind me of? That Jake Gyllenhaal movie called Bubble Boy because he has no immune system and has to spend his life in a bubble. However, Everything Everything isn’t quite like Bubble Boy. Yeah, Madeline suffers an immune disease (severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)) where she is extremely vulnerable of contracting diseases, but she is confined to her very white house 24/7 and doesn’t get into the same shenanigans as Bubble Boy. Madeline is carefully watched by a nurse to make sure she doesn’t get sick, and is stuck in a routine, but it eventually changes when a new family moves in next door and Madeline sees Olly, the boy in all black. She starts pulling away from her mom for the chance to be normal. Now this is where I started groaning.

Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! | Changes in The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

August 9, 2015 Comments : 12

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe), and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

**COVER CHANGE: The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord**

Reviews

(ARC) REVIEW | Why You Need to Read Goodbye Stranger

August 6, 2015 Comments : 6

goodbye stranger - rebecca stead

Bridge is an accident survivor who’s wondering why she’s still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody’s games–or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade?

This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl–as a friend?

On Valentine’s Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?[/note]

myreview

First sentence: “When she was eight years old, Bridge Barsamian woke up in a hospital, where a doctor told her she shouldn’t be alive.”

How do I begin to describe the cuteness and wonderfulness of Goodbye Stranger with its beautiful friendships and discussions about life, betrayals, forgiveness, and inequality? It’s a book that needs to be read by everyone! Everyone!

Goodbye Stranger follows:

Bridge Barsamian, an accident survivor who’s trying to figure out her purpose for being alive; Emily, a rising popular girl, who has developed new curves and gains the attention of an eighth grade boy; and Tabitha Patel, a know-it-all who repeats the feminist teachings of her English teacher;
Sherm Russo, a boy in Bridge’s class who’s dealing with the loss of his grandfather in epistolary format;
and an unnamed fourteen year old, who skips school to avoid a betrayal that’s written in the first person set on Valentine’s Day.

I’ve fallen madly in love with this book, and you will too.

Letters

SINCERELY, CEE | A letter from yours truly to Patrick Ness + The Rest of Us Just Live Here

August 5, 2015 Comments : 3

**Dear Patrick Ness and The Rest of Us Just Live Here,**

Yes, yes, yes, yesssssssssss.

[quote cite=”Goodreads” url=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23830990-the-rest-of-us-just-live-here”]What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable. [/quote]

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