In My Mailbox (12)

In My Mailbox is a meme that I picked up from The Story Siren's blog. It's where we share the new books that we've gotten for that week with our readers. These books could be from the library, the store, or from the writers/publishers for review. Whatever the reason, I will share my new books every Sunday!

Library

I'm SO excited that I found the young adult section in the library on campus!!! It's in the basement with the children's books and it's my favorite place to go between classes :) But I found this book the other day and checked it out! The cover is so cute and it reminds me of the scene in The Little Mermaid with Ariel and Eric. I'm super excited to read this one :) 

Author/Publisher

I got these amazing e-books from either the author or publisher this week! The covers are really fun and the stories sound really good! Make sure you stop by to check out my reviews for these books in the next couple of weeks! 

That's it! What all was in your guys's mailboxes this week? Please share!

Shelf Candy (5)

Shelf Candy is a meme hosted by Five Alarm Book Reviews and every Saturday, bloggers choose a book whose cover really catches their eye. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I always do, so I'm choosing books whose cover alone made me pick it up. So I hope you enjoy my shelf candy!

This cover just looks SO pretty! The sparkles and the girl's makeup make it seem magical, showing off the fantasy aspect of the story. Just looking at the cover makes me want to know more about the girl and who she desires or who desires her (meaning it's a romance, which is by far my favorite genre). And I love the font of the title and author name! It fits so perfectly with the whole feel of the cover, making the cover flat out AMAZING and the main reason this book is on my TBR list. 

Follow My Book Blog Friday (9)

This is a meme hosted every Friday by Parajunkee, where book bloggers answer a question each week and check out how others answered it. It's a cool way for bloggers and viewers to connect and learn more about each other!

Questions: Have you ever wanted the villain to win in the end of a story? If so, which one?

Answer:

This book was just so boring! No one got hurt and everything ended up okay in the end. I mean, in Harry Potter tons of people I loved died! Which made the book so much more powerful and meaningful. But in Breaking Dawn, the bad guys lost and the good guys won. I think if one of the Cullens had died, it would have been a lot better. There would have been a whole lot more emotion and shock felt by the readers, but instead there was just a predictable ending. I wouldn't necessarily want the villains to have won, but I would have at least wanted the winners to have a much harder time winning. Something unexpected definitely makes a book more fun to read! 

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

This is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where every Wednesday bloggers highlight a book that they are eagerly anticipating the release of! 

The Pledge
By Kimberly Derting
Release Date: November 15th

Summary: In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she’s spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed. 

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can’t be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.

Isn't the cover of this book so creepy? I love it! And then, reading the summary makes me want to read this book even more. Max sounds so intriguing and I know I'm going to love his story with Charlie. This reminds me of the Hunger Games, with liking someone you can't really trust and living in a world where you fear for your own life. That being said, it sounds amazing! When this book comes out, you can bet I'm going to read it! 

Book Review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Summary: Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill. 

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules. 

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

Review: There are honestly a million words to describe this book, but I'll put it into one word for you: AMAZING! I was so excited for this book to come out, so when I finally got it in the mail I was ecstatic. I started reading the book and loved EVERY SINGLE SECOND of it. I didn't know if it was possible to love another character as much as I loved Alex and Carlos, but boy is it possible! Luis is so amazing! He's smart (he wants to be an astronaut), caring (he's so sweet to Nikki), and a rebel (come on, he's a Fuentes after all!). I just wanted to dive into the pages and bring Luis home with me! And I loved how Alex and Carlos were still in the story. The readers get to see how their relationships were going while watching Luis and Nikki's relationship grow. I also really liked Nikki. The girls of the series all differ so much, but they're all perfect for their men. Nikki doesn't take any crap from Luis because she was scarred from her past relationship. Watching Luis break down her walls and watching their passion unfold made this book so good! I was so sad when I finished and wished that I hadn't read it so fast because now it's all over. I would LOVE it if Simone wrote a book about the Fuentes brother's sons, but I know that even if she doesn't, whatever she writes next will still be amazing. As for now, I think everyone should read this book as soon as possible because if you don't, you are seriously going to regret it!

Fuentes Brothers <3

The main reason I love these books...enough said :)

In My Mailbox (11)

In My Mailbox is a meme that I picked up from The Story Siren's blog. It's where we share the new books that we've gotten for that week with our readers. These books could be from the library, the store, or from the writers/publishers for review. Whatever the reason, I will share my new books every Sunday!

Mailbox

Since I've been at college for the past two weeks, I haven't had a chance receive the books that have been sent to my house. So when I came home for Labor Day weekend, I had a nice little pile of books waiting in my room! I don't remember if these were from giveaways or publishers, but I'm still very excited to read all of them! I actually got Chain Reaction and If I Stay from Barnesandnoble.com for half price! So I'm super super excited to read them! Simone Elkeles is one of my all time favorite authors, so I'm going to start Chain Reaction asap! I love all of the books that came in my mailbox since I've been gone and I don't know how I'm going to handle leaving them all again! 

Half Price Books

Since I'm home for Labor Day weekend, I got to go to Half Price Books for their 20% Labor Day Weekend sale!!!! I was so excited for this. I hadn't bought a book in two weeks and I'm pretty sure I was going through withdrawal. But seeing as this is my favorite store, I didn't do too bad! I got the second Bridget Jones movie because it's one of my favorites but the copy we own belongs to my sister! I love Kate Brian, so I was excited to get her book for only 80 cents! And I also got Rules of Attraction for 80 cents!! Isn't that crazy???? Simone Elkeles is amazing and I don't know how this book could sell for that cheap, but I didn't have it, so of course I got it! Now I own all three books in that series :) Best trip to Half Price Books yet! 

That's it! What all was in your guys's mailboxes this week? Please share! 

Book Review: Dreams and Nightmares by Ann Warner

Summary: A struggling writer dreams of being a best selling author. A career criminal pulls one last job before retiring to the easy life in Mexico. Each has a vision of the future. Neither can imagine what the future holds.


Review: Being a bookworm myself (obviously), I love reading about characters who have a passion for reading and writing, so it's no surprise that I really liked Decker, the main character of this book. Her passion for writing was great and I really felt for her when things didn't (but eventually did) go her way. What I didn't really like about this book was how the chapters alternated between Decker's story and Albert/Ruby's story. They had nothing in common and I knew that they would cross paths eventually, but that wasn't until maybe 50 pages were left in the book. So a majority of the book just dealt with two completely different lives, and I don't know how much I liked that part. Albert and Ruby were creepily disturbing, which really made them fun to read about! And I really liked Decker's relationship with Gus (even though it wasn't that big of a part in the story) but I just wish I didn't have to read two completely different stories in the same book. Maybe they could have intertwined more throughout the beginning and middle instead of jumping together at the end, so that they would make more sense together. Other than that, I enjoyed reading this book. Full of suspense, mystery, and a passion for writing, this was just a fun book to read!