Friends, All Hallows Read is just the most fun. Giving a book instead of candy?! This is my DREAM! Although, let’s be real, I love candy. But I probably love books more, and I’m always looking for reasons to give them as gifts, so this is perfect. In honor of this most wonderful event, Brittany, Alyssa, and I did a little Halloween book gifting so that we could all participate and have fun, and I’m so excited to be reviewing WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson, gifted to me by the lovely Alyssa. I’m going to be reading Brittany’s gifts (YES OMG she gave us two books) and reviewing them SOON. I’m still actually reading them. But! There is a book to review today! Let’s get to it.
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All Hallows Read Review | We Have Always Lived in the Castle | Shirley Jackson
Oct 31
Book Review | The Outside | Laura Bickle
Oct 21
Friends, I’m so very excited to be participating in this year’s Fortnight of Fright event, hosted again by the delightful duo of Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide and Alyssa @ Books Take You Places. This is a super event leading up to Halloween where bloggers get to chat about some of their favorite creepy stuff! I’m sometimes a wuss about scary things, but I’m psyched to be reviewing THE OUTSIDE by Laura Bickle for my Fortnight of Fright post! So, thanks ladies! And come on in for some vampire creepiness!
Book Review | Fangirl | Rainbow Rowell
Oct 15
Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!)
Summary: Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .
But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
Book Review | Golden | Jessi Kirby
Oct 10
Title: Golden
Author: Jessi Kirby (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Release date: May 14, 2013
Source: Own it
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.
Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.
Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.
Book Review | Under the Empyrean Sky | Chuck Wendig
Oct 7
Title: Under the Empyrean Sky
Author: Chuck Wendig (web | twitter)
Series: The Heartland Trilogy #1
Genre: Dystopian YA
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Publisher: Amazon Children’s Publishing
Release date: July 30, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA
Summary: Corn is king in the Heartland, and Cael McAvoy has had enough of it. It’s the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow ? and the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it. As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables, trying to earn much-needed ace notes for their families. But Cael’s tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He’s sick of the mayor’s son besting Cael’s crew in the scavenging game. And he’s worried about losing Gwennie ? his first mate and the love of his life ? forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry ? angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn’t seem upset about any of it. Cael’s ready to make his own luck . . . even if it means bringing down the wrath of the Empyrean elite and changing life in the Heartland forever.
Blog Tour Review | Blackmoore | Julianne Donaldson
Oct 1
Title: Blackmoore
Author: Julianne Donaldson
Genre: Historical Romance
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Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release date: September 9, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley
Summary: Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.
Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?
Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist.
Book Review | Rose Under Fire | Elizabeth Wein
Sep 27
Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein (web | twitter)
Series: Code Name Verity #2
Genre: Historical Fiction YA
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Publisher: Hyperion
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA
Summary: While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?
Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.
Book Review | Where the Stars Still Shine | Trish Doller
Sep 23
Title: Where the Stars Still Shine
Author: Trish Doller (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release date: September 24, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley (Thanks, Bloomsbury!)
Summary: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.
Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.
Book Review | The Dream Thieves | Maggie Stiefvater
Sep 16
I received this book for free from BookExpo in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater Series: The Raven Cycle #2
Published by Scholastic on September 17, 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 439
Format: ARC
Also in this series: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Also by this author: The Raven Boys, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Source: BookExpo
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Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…
Book Review | This Is What Happy Looks Like | Jennifer E. Smith
Sep 6
Title: This Is What Happy Looks Like
Author: Jennifer E. Smith (web | twitter)
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Poppy
Release date: April 2, 2013
Source: Bought it
Summary:If fate sent you an email, would you answer?
When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O’Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.
Then Graham finds out that Ellie’s Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?
