Showing posts with label Sarah Dessen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Dessen. Show all posts

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Week 52 Review: The Rest of the Story

From Goodreads:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen comes a big-hearted, sweeping novel about a girl who reconnects with a part of her family she hasn't seen since she was a little girl—and falls in love, all over the course of a magical summer. 

Emma Saylor doesn't remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

Now it's just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother's family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn't seen since she was a little girl.

When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.

Then there's Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family's history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It's hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo's spell as well.

For Saylor, it's like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it's time to go back home, which side of her will win out?

My Review:


Author: Sarah Dessen
Read: December 27th, 2023
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2023 Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: June 4th 2019
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Friday, December 29, 2023

21 Books to Read in 2021 Update 39

Yeah, I read my next book for the 21 Books to Read in 2021 Challenge! 

So I read The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen from the Edelweiss List! 

Yep. Happy reading!

Here's the link to this year's post with my journey.

But to recap, I wanted to do a version of These Books Will Self Destruct in 12 months without the self destruct. I wanted to read books that I've had for a while, that I really needed to get read, but maybe I forgot about them or that I had them. So I made 3 lists, one for each way I have them, as physical books, as an NetGalley ARC, and as an Edelweiss ARC.       

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Reindeer Readathon Update 9

So I read my next book for the Reindeer Challenge, and it was The Rest of the Story which was for the prompt Vixen/Christmas Tree. I'll be reading Going Bovine next! 

Reading Journey:

Tempting the Best Man by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Prompt Fulfilled: Cupid/Christmas Carols
Started On: December 1st
Finished On: December 1st, 9:12 AM
Pages Read: 179

Never a Hero by Vanessa Len
Prompt Fulfilled: Prancer
Started On: December 4th
Finished On: December 4th, 11:47 AM
Pages Read: 528

The Study Chronicles by Maria V. Snyder
Prompt Fulfilled: Rudolph
Started On: December 4th
Finished On: December 4th, 10:35 PM
Pages Read: 362

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Prompt Fulfilled: Dancer/Christmas Lights
Started On: December 17th
Finished On: December 17th, 8:45 PM
Pages Read: 464

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Prompt Fulfilled: Donner
Started On: December 23rd
Finished On: December 23rd, 1:28 PM
Pages Read: 368

A Grim and Sunken Vow by Ashley Shuttleworth
Prompt Fulfilled: Comet/Christmas Star
Started On: December 24th
Finished On: December 24th, 10:27 PM
Pages Read: 640

Burning Dawn by Gena Showalter
Prompt Fulfilled: Blitzen
Started On: December 25th
Finished On: December 25th, 10:32 PM
Pages Read: 445

The Assassin Game by Kirsty McKay
Prompt Fulfilled: Dasher/Christmas Elf
Started On: December 26th
Finished On: December 26th, 10:05 PM
Pages Read: 338

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen
Prompt Fulfilled: Vixen/Christmas Tree
Started On: December 27th
Finished On: December 27th, 9:30 PM
Pages Read: 448

Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Prompt Fulfilled: Sleighing It
Started On: December 
Currently On: Page 0 of 480

Prompts Left: None Left!
Books Read: 9
Pages Read: 3882

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Reindeer Readathon Update 8

So I read my next book for the Reindeer Challenge, and it was The Assassin Game which was for the prompt Dasher/Christmas Elf. I'll be reading The Rest of the Story next! 

Reading Journey:

Tempting the Best Man by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Prompt Fulfilled: Cupid/Christmas Carols
Started On: December 1st
Finished On: December 1st, 9:12 AM
Pages Read: 179

Never a Hero by Vanessa Len
Prompt Fulfilled: Prancer
Started On: December 4th
Finished On: December 4th, 11:47 AM
Pages Read: 528

The Study Chronicles by Maria V. Snyder
Prompt Fulfilled: Rudolph
Started On: December 4th
Finished On: December 4th, 10:35 PM
Pages Read: 362

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Prompt Fulfilled: Dancer/Christmas Lights
Started On: December 17th
Finished On: December 17th, 8:45 PM
Pages Read: 464

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Prompt Fulfilled: Donner
Started On: December 23rd
Finished On: December 23rd, 1:28 PM
Pages Read: 368

A Grim and Sunken Vow by Ashley Shuttleworth
Prompt Fulfilled: Comet/Christmas Star
Started On: December 24th
Finished On: December 24th, 10:27 PM
Pages Read: 640

Burning Dawn by Gena Showalter
Prompt Fulfilled: Blitzen
Started On: December 25th
Finished On: December 25th, 10:32 PM
Pages Read: 445

The Assassin Game by Kirsty McKay
Prompt Fulfilled: Dasher/Christmas Elf
Started On: December 26th
Finished On: December 26th, 10:05 PM
Pages Read: 338

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen
Prompt Fulfilled: Vixen/Christmas Tree
Started On: December 27th
Currently On: Page 0 of 448

Prompts Left: Sleighing It
Books Read: 7
Pages Read: 2986

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Random Reads #421, December 12th

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 2851 which turned out to be The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen! It's been on my TBR pile since July 12th, 2012, and I added it because I really enjoy her writing! Happy reading!

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Will the Time Come #341, December 14th

Every Thursday I am going to list a book which I really want to read/keep meaning to get to. These are mostly books which have been on my shelf for awhile now but don't have to be, maybe you got it two weeks ago and really want to read it! Thanks to Jodie from Books for Company for this meme!
Want to Join?
-Pick a book you have been meaning to read
-Do a post telling us about the book    
-Link the post up in the linky  
-Visit the other blogs

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.

Why the time hasn't come yet...
I don't know. Just haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully soon, as always! What about you guys? Happy reading! 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Will the Time Come #199, March 26th

Every Thursday I am going to list a book which I really want to read/keep meaning to get to. These are mostly books which have been on my shelf for awhile now but don't have to be, maybe you got it two weeks ago and really want to read it! Thanks to Jodie from Books for Company for this meme!
Want to Join?
-Pick a book you have been meaning to read
-Do a post telling us about the book    
-Link the post up in the linky  
-Visit the other blogs

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn't mess around. After all, she's learned all there is to know from her mother, who's currently working on husband number five. But there's something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy's rules. He certainly doesn't seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can't seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy's starting to understand what those love songs are all about?

Why the time hasn't come yet...
There's just so many books to read! But I will read it, because it sounds really good! What about you guys? Happy reading!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 35

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, Dreamland, and I'll be reviewing Whisper. Last one! And I'll have the rest of the content in later today!

Goals: 30
Reviews: 35

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 34

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, Shimmer, and I'll be reviewing Dreamland. Just 1 more left! And then when its actually daytime, I'll add the rest of the content to these!


Goals: 30
Reviews: 34

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 29

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, The Truth About Forever, and I'll be reviewing Ice Song. Another done! More, more, more!


Goals: 30
Reviews: 29

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 28

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, Omens, and I'll be reviewing The Truth About Forever. Done! More, now! Faster!


Goals: 30
Reviews: 28

Friday, January 23, 2015

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 6

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, Just Listen, and I'll be reviewing Pandemonium. Just 4 more in about 40 minutes. Can I do it? 


Goals: 30
Reviews: 6

Write on Review-a-Thon Update 5

Write On Review-a-Thon
So I wrote my next review, The House of Dead Maids, and I'll be reviewing Just Listen. Halfway towards today's goal, maybe I'll make it, but it's looking like not! Oh, well, there's 3 days, so I have a bit more catch up time!


Goals: 30
Reviews: 5

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sarah Dessen Author Page

The Story: People just love Sarah Dessen's books, so I checked out Along For the Ride, and really enjoyed it, got 2 more books and loved them, and yeah, now I just really want to read the rest of her books!

Website

Stand Alone's: Along for the Ride and her site, my review, Just Listen and her site, my review, The Truth About Forever and her site, my review, Lock and Key and her site, my review, This Lullaby and her site, my review, Somebody Like You and her site, my review, Dreamland and her site, my review, Keeping the Moon and her site, my review, That Summer and her site, my review, What Happened to Goodbye and her sitemy reviewThe Moon and More and her site, my review, Saint Anything and my review, The Rest of the Story and my review.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Random Reads #135, June 26th

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 2275 which turned out to be Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen! It's been on my TBR pile since January 12th 2012, and I added it because I enjoy her books! Happy reading! 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Random Reads #73, April 18th

Random Reads is a monthly meme (that I'm going to do weekly) hosted by I'm Loving Books to read some books that have been on our TBR piles for a long time. Using Random.org, I got 1155 which turned out to be This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen! It's been on my TBR pile since July 28th 2011, and I added it because I really enjoy her books! Happy reading! 

Monday, July 2, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #56, July 2nd


It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week...and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well...you never know where that next "must read" book will come from!

What happened in the past week:

Weekly Memes:
It's Monday! What Are You Reading #55
Teaser Tuesday #64
WWW Wednesday #64
WOW #60
Will the Time Come #56
Third Sentence Thursday #47
Random Reads #31
First Lines Friday #52
Follow that Blurb Reading Challenge Update 53
A-Z Book Challenge Update 26
The Reward Challenge Round 46 and 47
Follow Friday #34
Last Letter First Letter Reading Challenge Update 14
Wrote that Review Update 7
2012 Dystopian Reading Challenge Update 24
YA Historical Fiction Update 16
2012 E-Book Challenge Quarter 2
Debut Author Challenge Quarter 2
In My Mailbox #55
I Have An Update #54

Week 26 Reviews:
Underworld
The Golden Lily
What Happened to Goodbye
Dark Taste of Rapture
The Duff
Eternal
Jealousy
Endure
Masque of the Red Death
Enchanted
The False Princess

Tours:
The Reclaimed: Review
Why Don't You Just Kill Her?: Review
Dead RaTdiance: Review and Excerpt

Random:
The Darkening Dream: Promo
Giveaway of Struck!!!
I Have Internet Again! WHOO!!
We Have the Cover of The Chemical Garden #3!!!
We Have the Cover of The Body Finder #4!!!
We Have the Cover of Under the Never Sky #2!!!
We Have the Cover of Delirium #3!!!
We Have the Title of Blood of Eden #2!!!

OK, so I got 42  posts in 7 days, which is pretty good, there was a lot of book news this week, 4 new covers, and 1 title! Well, that I know about/found the energy to blog about, anyways!

So this week I want to read Wicked Nights, Consumed, Defiance, Here Lies Bridget, Once, The Fine Art of Truth and Dare, The Iron Witch, A Dark Champion, Blood Trinity, Red Handed, Dumping Princes, First Grave on the Right, Fallen in Love, and Resurrection.

Currently Listening To: Tell Me Something I Don't Know by Selena Gomez
Currently Reading: Defiance by Lili St. Crow
Currently Watching: True Blood/Teen Wolf week's episodes!

Leader of the most powerful army in the heavens, Zacharel has been deemed nearly too dangerous, too ruthless--and if he isn't careful, he'll lose his wings. But this warrior with a heart of ice will not be deterred from his missions at any cost...until a vulnerable human tempts him with a carnal pleasure he's never known before.

Accused of a crime she did not commit, Annabelle Miller has spent four years in an institution for the criminally insane. Demons track her every move, and their king will stop at nothing to have her. Zacharel is her only hope for survival, but is the brutal angel with a touch as hot as hell her salvation--or her ultimate damnation?
Now that sixteen-year-old Dru's worst fears have come true and Sergej has kidnapped her best friend Graves, she'll have to go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring him back in one piece.

That is, if she can put all of Christophe's training to good use, defeat her mother's traitor, Anna, once and for all, and manage to survive another day...
Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don't worship as attentively, teachers don't fall for her wide-eyed "who me?" look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she's always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore.When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she's wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she's inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.And Bridget's about to learn that, sometimes, saying you're sorry just isn't enough….
Read “happily ever after” with this magical repackage that includes three enchanting, retold fairy tales.In this value-priced bind-up of three beloved retellings, readers will journey to faraway fairy tale lands. Before Midnight revisits Cinderella’s story in France, Golden puts a new spin on Rapunzel’s romance, and Wild Orchid reimagines the Chinese tale of Mulan. With so much real-life drama in today’s busy world, Once allows readers to escape into whimsical realms where every story has a happily ever after.
Pretty in Pink meets Anna and the French Kiss in this charming romantic comedy

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. She's got her friends - the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She's got her art - and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they're dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?
Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.
Fearless men, their allegiance is to one another, to the oppressed, and to the secret society known as the Brotherhood of the Sword—and they must never surrender to the passionate yearnings of their noble hearts.

A Lady of Love

Beautiful, peace-loving Rowena knows that Stryder of Blackmoor is a warrior, and is therefore a man to be shunned.

But something burns in the eyes of this powerful knight that she has never seen in others of his kind: a tenderness, and a need to love and be loved. Yet to enter his world would be madness—against every principle by which she has lived her life—so she must resist the yearning that would draw her into his arms.

A Man of War

Duty bound to battle for right, Stryder has never desired the comforts of home and hearth—until he gazed upon the exquisite face and form of the incomparable Rowena. He dares not succumb to her sensuous charms, for Stryder is a man sworn to know no love. But when treachery and danger threaten, the noble knight must stand as the unsuspecting lady's champion—though his actions could cost him his honor, his heart. . . and his forbidden dream of happiness.
Kula Baker never expected to find herself on the streets of San Francisco, alone but for a letter of introduction. Though she has come to the city to save her father from a cruel fate, Kula soon finds herself swept up in a world of art and elegance - a world she hardly dared dream of back in Montana, where she was no more than the daughter of an outlaw. And then there is the handsome David Wong, whose smiling eyes and soft-spoken manner have an uncanny way of breaking through Kula's carefully crafted reserve. Yet when disaster strikes and the wreckage threatens all she holds dear, Kula realizes that only by unlocking her heart can she begin to carve a new future for herself.
All her life, Evalle has been straddling the line between human and demon. Curious about her origins, but content to live in the shadows, she finds that anonymity threatened by escalating conflicts between species. Accused of a savage murder, she's forced center stage in what seems like the beginning of an Atlanta apocalypse. Before long though, her personal problems will submerge as she learns startling facts about a hoard of supernatural terrorists.
She's been chosen to fight the elusive enemy among us....
Phoenix Germaine has been trying to earn back her mother's trust after going into rehab and kicking Onadyn -- the drug of choice for New Chicago teens. But when a party in the woods turns into an all-out battle with the most ferocious aliens Phoenix has never seen, she's brought home in what appears to be an Onadyn-induced state. Hello, reform school.

Except, what her mother doesn't know is that Phoenix has just been recruited to join the elite Alien Investigation and Removal agency, where she'll learn to fight dirty, track hard, and destroy the enemy. Her professional training will be rigorous and dangerous, and the fact that one of her instructors is Ryan Stone -- the drop-dead gorgeous, nineteen-year-old agent she met in the woods that night -- doesn't make things any easier. Especially when dating him is totally against the rules....
Dating Britain's Prince Freddie is bliss as far as Calypso Kelly is concerned. Which is why she is appalled when her friends at the posh St. Augustine's School for girls decide to chuck their boyfriend and concentrate on their "studies"? Then Freddie does the unthinkable--he breaks up with Calypso--setting off a chain of events that includes a school-wide plan for a Counter Dump. But with her first international fending competition coming up in Italy, and a captivating new boy showering her with attention, Calypso will have to search her heart to decide whether to give her prince another chance, or to give him up for good.
Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.
Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.

And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they least expect it.

Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love.

Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns.

And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce will spend a night together like none other.

Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.

True love never says goodbye. . .
Who is Alex Carruthers? That is the question fans of the Wicked series have been asking since the seemingly final book, "Spellbound," left readers on the edge of their seats. But now, the true and final conclusion offers a heart-stopping, magical adventure about witches, destiny, and the beyond.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Week 26 Review: What Happened to Goodbye

From Goodreads:
Who is the real McLean? 

Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. 

My Review:
This was a pretty great book! I've only read a few Sarah Dessen books, but they've all been wonderful and I've enjoyed them, and this book was no exception! So good, and entertaining, and just a great contemporary book!

I really enjoyed reading about McLean, who's been running from her past since her parents divorced, with her dad, because of his job. And that works for McLean, so she's able to reinvent herself, but to the point where she doesn't really know who she is.

But then in this last move, with everything that's going on, and with Dave, well, this move is different. And it helped her deal with her issues, going as far as visiting her mom's house announced, and the fun times that was!

My only complaint is, that I really thought that the run down hotel was going to be a big plot point. Because when it was mentioned, it seemed like a pretty big thing. But then nothing really amounted of it, and I just wonder about that!

This was a really fantastic book, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Author: Sarah Dessen
Read: June 24th, 2012
Source: Library
Reason Why: Sounded like a great book!
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Published: May 10th 2011
5/5 Hearts
4/5 Books
4.5/5 Stars

Sunday, May 6, 2012

In My Mailbox #47, May 6th-May Week 1

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to talk about the books we got in the mailbox or inbox as the case may be!

So I got:

For Review:
The Syn-En Solution

Library:
The Stone Prince
The Twilight before Christmas
Oceans of Fire
Devoted
Above
The Duff
Strange Angels
Love and Leftovers
What Happened to Goodbye
Once
Trapped
The False Princess
The Limit
Luminous
Tantalize
Blessed 
Eternal

NetGalley:
Timepiece
Scars
One Moment
Beyond
Blood Crave
The Lost Colony
The Time Paradox

Oh, I got some awesome books, like The Stone Prince, so good, and Above, Devoted, and many others! Can't wait to read them! Happy reading!

Monday, March 19, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #41, March 19th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week...and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well...you never know where that next "must read" book will come from!

What happened in the past week:

Weekly Memes:
It's Monday! What Are You Reading #40
Teaser Tuesday #49
WWW Wednesday #49
WOW #45
Will the Time Come #41
Third Sentence Thursday #31
Random Reads #16
First Lines Friday #37
Follow that Blurb Reading Challenge Update 38
A-Z Book Challenge Update 11
The Reward Challenge Round 32
Follow Friday #19
2012 Dystopian Reading Challenge Update 11
YA Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Update 7
In My Mailbox #40
I Have An Update #39

Week 11 Reviews:
Struck
Graveminder
Of Poseidon
Witches of East End
The House of Dead Maids
Just Listen
Pandemonium
The Name of the Star
The Near Witch
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar
A Need So Beautiful
Juliet Immortal
Spell Bound
The Truth About Forever
Queen of Swords
Ice Song

Tours:
Helens of Troy: Review

Random:
Gah! Calculus is Evil...

OK, so I got 34 posts in 7 days, and next week I'm expecting a few more, with all the books I want to read! So what sorts of books/posts have you had this week?
 
So this week I want to read Still Waters, Lola and the Boy Next Door, Shimmer, Immortal Becoming, Gil MarshBetween, Flame of Surrender, The Canker Death, Against the NightSisters Red, All These Things I've Done, The Emerald CityOnce Dead, Twice Shy, Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse, BloodlandIronside, The Fortunes of Indigo Skye, Catch MeTiger's Quest, dancergirl, and The Star Shard.
 
Currently Listening To: Cross My Heart by Marianas Trench
Currently Reading: Between by Jessica Warman
Currently Watching: more catch up on my shows!


Hannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He's leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they'll never forget.

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living there, even though it's been deserted for years. And Colin doesn't seem quite himself. As he grows more unstable, Hannah worries about Colin's dark side, and her own safety.

Nothing is as perfect as it seems, and what lies beneath may haunt her forever.

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.
Having solved the matter of the Radiant Boy, Riley, Buttercup, and Bodhi are enjoying a well-deserved vacation. When Riley comes across a vicious black dog, against Bodhi’s advice, she decides to cross him over. While following the dog, she runs into a young ghost named Rebecca. Despite Rebecca’s sweet appearance, Riley soon learns she’s not at all what she seems. As the daughter of a former plantation owner, she is furious about being murdered during a slave revolt in 1733. Mired in her own anger, Rebecca is lashing out by keeping the ghosts who died along with her trapped in their worst memories. Can Riley help Rebecca forgive and forget without losing herself to her own nightmarish memories?

Shane Einar is a five hundred year old Volaticus Elven warrior, sworn to duty and honor. His species has inhabited the earth since the beginning of time. The sources of vampire, elf and fairy myths, Volaticus are in reality something altogether different. He never expected to meet Jess Reed. A female living amongst humanity completely unaware that she is Hulven, a human/Elven hybrid race of Volaticus, or that she is on the cusp of Becoming into her Elven traits. Shane should turn Jess over to the Symbiosis of Species Council, SOSC. His attraction to her along with her ability to enrapture him with a smile bars him from it. He rightly suspects that this female is his bloodmate.

Jess had always been psychic, a painful and confusing fact of her life. With Shane’s loving support she learns to control her abilities and discovers the psychically enlightened species that share this world.

Together they sacrifice the power of their bloodmating in the battle to save females from breeding cages under the control of an Elven rogue.
Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

The boy who follows death meets the girl who could cause the apocalypse.

Krishani thinks he’s doomed until he meets Kaliel, the one girl on the island of Avristar who isn’t afraid of him. She’s unlike the other girls, she swims with merfolk, talks to trees and blooms flowers with her touch. What he doesn’t know is that she’s a flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons, hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl.

Nobody has fallen in love with a flame until now. She becomes Krishani’s refuge from the dreams of death and the weather abilities he can’t control. Striking down thousand year old trees with lightning isn’t something he tries to do, it just happens. When the Ferryman dies, Krishani knows that he’s the next and that a lifetime of following death is his destiny.

And Kaliel can’t come with him. The Valtanyana are hunting the flames, the safest place for her is Avristar. Krishani can’t bear to leave her, and one innocent mistake grants the Valtanyana access to their mystical island. They’re coming for Kaliel, and they won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead. She has to choose, hide, face them, or awaken the flame and potentially destroy herself.

When the reclusive, cynical systems administrator, Petor Fidelistro, discovers that one of his own servers has been cracked late one night, he makes it his personal business to track down the perpetrator. What his search uncovers thrusts him, unaware, into a mad shifting between worlds, time and alien minds.

Fighting to keep his grip on reality, and forcing him to cope with his past, Petor finds himself uncontrollably transitioning between sentient minds that range from semi-conscious to dominant, from beings whose bodies and identities he can control, to those who control him so fully as to be unaware of his presence. As the story unfolds, Petor gathers clues in a twisting mystery that sends him shifting between the mourning child Nanzicwital; the golem giant Faskin; the lascivious, female ambassador Desidia; and Nokinis, an insane prisoner with whom Petor battles for mastery of his own memories. As he struggles to make sense of what is happening to him, Petor finds himself embroiled in the tumultuous upheaval of a ubiquitous society that transcends life, itself.
Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.
In this loose re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz, Kansas teen Gail Dorjee has tried to escape from the pain of her parents' death by retreating into a hard shell of anger and sarcasm. 

When her aunt and uncle ship her off to an elite Seattle boarding school, Osland Academy, she spends her first day making enemies, including the school's most powerful clique, the Winged, and their leader, the ruthless Diana. 

Social war and the school's uptight teachers are only mild annoyances. Mysterious phone outages, bizarre behavioral blocks, and strange incidents suggest Osland is focused on something much more sinister than education. 

Now Gail has to survive at Osland with a pretty pathetic assortment of potential allies: her airhead roommate, a cowardly victim of the Winged, and Diana's cold but handsome boyfriend, Nick.
My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it. 

Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away. 

Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course. 

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her. 

Well, if she believed in that stuff. 

Phillip's sophomore year is off to a rough start. One of his best friends ditches him for a group of douchebags. His track coach singles him out for personalized, torturous training sessions. And his dad decides to clean out all of the emergency supplies from the basement, even though the world could end in disaster at any moment...and even though those supplies are all Phillip has left of his dead mom. Not that he wants to talk about that.

But then Phillip meets Rebekah. Not only is she unconventionally hot and smart, but she has seriously great boobs. And she might like him back.

As Phillip gets closer to Rebekah, he tries harder and harder to turn himself into the kind of person he thinks she wants him to be. But the question is, can he become that person? And does he really want to?

I suddenly see where I'm standing, and that's at the edge of change - really, really big change.
Eighteen-year-old Indigo Skye feels like she has it all - a waitress job she loves, an adorable refrigerator-delivery-guy boyfriend, and a home life that's slightly crazed but rich in love. Until a mysterious man at the restaurant leaves her a 2.5 million-dollar tip, and her life as she knew it is transformed.

At first its amazing: a hot new car, enormous flat-screen TV, and presents for everyone she cares about. She laughs off the warnings that money changes people, that they come to rely on what they have instead of who they are. Because it won't happen...not to her. Or will it? What do you do when you can buy anything your heart desires -- but what your heart desires can't be bought?

This is the story of a girl who gets rich, gets lost, and ultimately finds her way back - if not to where she started, then to where she can start again.
Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them.
Ever feel like someone's watching you? Me, too. But lately it's been happening in my room.
When I'm alone.

A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I'm no longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl. And suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.

My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he's acting weird. And some stalker isn't content to just watch anymore.

Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.