Monthly Archives: August 2015

This week, I’ve picked an upcoming book that is the final in a trilogy that I absolutely adore. Queen of Always (Stolen Empire #3) Author: Sherry D. Ficklin Publication Date: September 15th, 2015 Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing Summary from Goodreads: … Continue reading

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Book Title:
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
Book Author:
Eimear McBride
Publishing Date:
June 9, 2015
Publisher:
Hogarth
Date Read:
August 10, 2015

Synopsis

Eimear McBride's debut tells, with astonishing insight and in brutal detail, the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumor. Not so much a stream of consciousness, as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist, to read A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable - but it is always a revelation.

Touching on everything from family violence to sexuality and the personal struggle to remain intact in times of intense trauma, McBride writes with singular intensity, acute sensitivity and mordant wit. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is moving, funny – and alarming. It is a book you will never forget.

My Review

This book is written from the point of view of a young girl who lives with her mentally and physically abusive mother, and her older brother who had a brain tumor during childhood and who nothing was quite the same … Continue reading

1.5 stars
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Blackmail Boyfriend Author: Chris Cannon Release Date: August 11th, 2015 Publisher: Entangled Teen – Crush Summary from Goodreads: Sometimes, blackmail is the only weapon a girl has… Haley Patterson has had a crush on golden boy Bryce Colton for ages. … Continue reading

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Book Title:
Gathering Frost (Once Upon A Curse #1)
Book Author:
Kaitlyn Davis
Book Series:
Once Upon A Curse
Publishing Date:
February 4, 2015
Publisher:
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Date Read:
April 13, 2015

Synopsis

Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart?

Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away. Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.

My Review

I read this book a few months ago, back before I started Here’s to Happy Endings and only did my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, and I thought that it definitely deserved a place here on the blog itself, because … Continue reading

4.5 stars
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Book Title:
Castle in the Air
Book Author:
Jennifer Tressen
Publishing Date:
July 25, 2015
Date Read:
August 4, 2015

Synopsis

The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas has been called "America's Most Haunted Hotel" largely because of the events of the 1930s when Dr. Norman Baker ran a "cancer treatment hospital" which he called his "Castle in the Air." Follow the fictionalized story of Clara, the young, unwed pregnant niece of Dr. Baker who comes to help at the cancer center in exchange for room and board and finds things aren't quite what they appear to be. Caring for an ill young boy at the center she feels her maternal instincts kick in - something is definitely not right at her uncle's hospital. But what? Will she be able to piece together the clues in time to save herself and the boy? Or will she be forever doomed to reside in the Castle in the Air, where once you check in...you never leave.

My Review

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge sucker for the horror genre, especially ghost stories and stories involving haunted houses.  I just can’t get enough of them, even though the good ones scare me to the … Continue reading

3.5 stars
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This week’s Waiting on Wednesday is a book that, at first, I didn’t give much thought to, but after hearing about it so much, I’m absolutely thrilled for!  It comes out pretty soon, so I’m excited about that!  I’m sure … Continue reading

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Paint My Body Red Author: Heidi R. Kling Release Date: 11/02/15 Publisher: Entangled Teen   Summary from Goodreads: They think I’ll be number seven. Unlucky number seven. Dead teenager number seven. With the rash of suicides at my school, I’ve … Continue reading

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Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: • Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page … Continue reading

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Book Title:
Read Between the Lines
Book Author:
Jo Knowles
Publishing Date:
March 10, 2015
Publisher:
Candlewick Press
Date Read:
July 30, 2015

Synopsis

Does anyone ever see us for who we really are? Jo Knowles’s revelatory novel of interlocking stories peers behind the scrim as it follows nine teens and one teacher through a seemingly ordinary day.

Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger—the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won’t be the last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse—or so it seems. Over the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern. Unless, of course, one looks a little closer—and reads between the lines.

My Review

I absolutely adored this book.  The characters, their stories, the settings…everything about this book was so well written and captivating, it made me want to read the entire book without taking a break (and with this one, that’s pretty much … Continue reading

4.5 stars
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Book Tour

Castle in the Air by Jennifer Tressen Release Date: July 23rd 2015 Summary from Amazon: The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas has been called “America’s Most Haunted Hotel” largely because of the events of the 1930s when Dr. Norman … Continue reading

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