Monthly Archives: September 2016

Book Title:
When the Moon Was Ours
Book Author:
Anna-Marie McLemore
Publishing Date:
October 4th, 2016
Publisher:
Thomas Dunne
Date Read:
September 28th, 2016
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher - Thank you!

Synopsis

Longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Anna-Marie McLemore’s debut novel The Weight of Feathers was greeted with rave reviews, a YALSA Morris Award nomination, and spots on multiple “Best YA Novels” lists. Now, McLemore delivers a second stunning and utterly romantic novel, again tinged with magic.

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

Atmospheric, dynamic, and packed with gorgeous prose, When the Moon was Ours is another winner from this talented author.

My Review

When I first read The Weight of Feathers, I was captivated by the magic and beauty that was contained within its pages.  At that point, I hadn’t really read many novels with magical realism and such descriptive passages, and characters … Continue reading

5 stars
9 Comments
Book Title:
Kids of Appetite
Book Author:
David Arnold
Publishing Date:
September 20th, 2016
Publisher:
Viking Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
September 24th, 2016
Source:
ARC from publisher - Thank you!

Synopsis

The bestselling author of Mosquitoland brings us another batch of unforgettable characters in this tragicomedy about first love and devastating loss.

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell.

It begins with the death of Vic’s father.

It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle.

The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it.

But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between.

This is a story about:

1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey.

2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter.

3. One dormant submarine.

4. Two songs about flowers.

5. Being cool in the traditional sense.

6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards.

7. Simultaneous extreme opposites.

8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country.

9. A story collector.

10. How to listen to someone who does not talk.

11. Falling in love with a painting.

12. Falling in love with a song.

13. Falling in love.

My Review

I have had Mosquitoland sitting on my shelf for a while, but for some reason, I tend to keep forgetting it’s there, so I haven’t read it yet.  I’ve heard amazing things about the book and David Arnold’s writing, so … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
Ivory and Bone
Book Author:
Julie Eshbaugh
Book Series:
Ivory and Bone, #1
Publishing Date:
June 7th, 2016
Publisher:
HarperTeen
Date Read:
June 8th, 2016
Source:
eARC from publisher via Edelweiss

Synopsis

The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.

Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.

Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in a tangle of their pasts.

When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.

My Review

Ivory and Bone opens with our main character, Kol, telling Mya a beautiful story about when they first met, and the events that had led them to where they are now (in a cave, outside in cold, trying to stay … Continue reading

2.5 stars
8 Comments
Book Title:
Pasadena
Book Author:
Sherri L. Smith
Publishing Date:
September 13th, 2016
Publisher:
G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
September 16th, 2016
Source:
ARC from publisher

Synopsis

Bad things happen everywhere. Even in the land of sun and roses.

When Jude's best friend is found dead in a swimming pool, her family calls it an accident. Her friends call it suicide. But Jude calls it what it is: murder. And someone has to pay.

Now everyone is a suspect--family and friends alike. And Jude is digging up the past like bones from a shallow grave. Anything to get closer to the truth. But that's the thing about secrets. Once they start turning up, nothing is sacred. And Jude's got a few skeletons of her own.

My Review

“We’d gone to California to be new people, to have a fresh start.  But bad things happen everywhere.  Even in the land of sun and roses.” When Jude is trying to spend the summer visiting with her father, away from … Continue reading

3.5 stars
2 Comments
Book Title:
The Enormous Crocodile
Book Author:
Roald Dahl
Publishing Date:
July 11th, 2000
Publisher:
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Date Read:
September 19th, 2016
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher - Thank you!

Synopsis

The Enormous Crocodile decides that he wants a nice juicy child for lunch, horrifying the other animals in the jungle--his friend, the Notsobig One; Humpy-Rumpy, the hippopotamus; Trunky, the elephant; Muggle-Wump, the monkey; and the Roly-Poly Bird. Despite his secret plans and clever tricks, what the boastful crocodile doesn't know is that the brave jungle animals have plans of their own for him!

In the end, the Enormous Crocodile gets exactly what he deserves.

My Review

The Enormous Crocodile is the kind of book that if I had read it as a child, I would probably be terrified that a crocodile was going to come and eat me every night while I was trying to sleep.  … Continue reading

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The Lost and the Found Author: Cat Clarke Publication Date: September 13th, 2016 Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers Synopsis: LOST. When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith’s childhood was dominated by Laurel’s … Continue reading

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Book Title:
How to Make Out
Book Author:
Brianna R. Shrum
Publishing Date:
September 6th, 2016
Publisher:
Sky Pony Press
Date Read:
September 17th, 2016
Source:
I received a copy from the publisher - Thank you!

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Renley needs three thousand dollars for the math club’s trip to New York City, and she knows exactly how to get it: she’s going to start a how-to blog where people pay for answers to all of life’s questions from a “certified expert.” The only problems: 1) She doesn’t know how to do anything but long division and calculus. 2) She’s totally invisible to people at school. And not in a cool Gossip Girl kind of way.

So, she decides to learn to do . . . well . . . everything. When her anonymous blog shifts in a more scandalous direction and the questions (and money) start rolling in, she has to learn not just how to do waterfall braids and cat-eye makeup, but a few other things, like how to cure a hangover, how to flirt, and how to make out (something her very experienced, and very in-love-with-her neighbor, Drew, is more than willing to help with).

As her blog’s reputation skyrockets, so does “new and improved” Renley’s popularity. She’s not only nabbed the attention of the entire school, but also the eye of Seth Levine, the hot culinary wizard she’s admired from across the home-ec classroom all year.

Soon, caught up in the thrill of popularity both in and out of cyberspace, her secrets start to spiral, and she finds that she’s forgotten the most important how-to: how to be herself. When her online and real lives converge, Renley will have to make a choice: lose everything she loves in her new life, or everyone she loves in the life she left behind.

My Review

I feel like I’ve been really reading a lot of contemporaries lately, and with the great quality of some of the books that I have been picking up, it isn’t really a bad thing.  I’ve really been into reading contemporary … Continue reading

4 stars
2 Comments
Book Tour

Gamescape: Overworld (The Nova Project #1) by Emma Trevayne Publisher: Greenwillow Release Date: September 13th 2016 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia  Synopsis: The planet is dying. Centuries of abuse have damaged the earth beyond repair, and now all the authorities … Continue reading

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Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears!  Today I have some information on this book, as well as an awesome guest post from the author!   … Continue reading

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Book Tour
Book Title:
Going Geek
Book Author:
Charlotte Huang
Publishing Date:
September 13h, 2016
Publisher:
Delacorte Press
Date Read:
September 12th, 2016
Source:
I received an ARC from the publisher - thank you!

Synopsis

A girl forced out of her comfort zone finds that being true to herself is the best way to live her life, in this second novel from the author of For the Record.

 It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Skylar Hoffman’s senior year at her preppy East Coast boarding school should have been perfect:

amazing boyfriend

the coolest friends

the most desirable dorm

But it’s far from it. To her dismay, Skylar’s not going to rule senior year because she’s stuck in Abbot House, a tiny dorm known for, well, nothing. Living with a group of strangers everyone thinks is lame is bad enough. Worse is that Skylar wasn’t exactly truthful about how she spent summer break in Los Angeles—and her little white lie is causing her once rock-solid romance to crumble fast. And when it turns out that Skylar’s best friend is the one responsible for having her booted from Lincoln? It’s an all-out war.

Stepping out of her comfort zone never felt so scary—or necessary. But everything is different now. Including, maybe, Skylar herself . . .

My Review

Going Geek is the first novel that I’ve read by Charlotte Huang, although I have heard amazing things about For the Record.  When I heard about this one, I was excited to read it, because I thought it sounded like … Continue reading

4 Comments