Sorry to say....

Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that I will be gone for a while...not sure how long but I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now that is getting hard keeping up on everything. I will still be doing my You Tube videos since I started that before this and I am now doing topic videos so there will more interesting things on there besides for reviews and hauls.

I hope everyone understands. I hope also that I can get back to my blog, but I am not sure if or when. Thank you to everyone that has subscribed to me and stuck by me for these few months that I have been up! I really appreciate you guys....

Until next time, Have a "good" read...

WITHOUT LOOKING BACK by Tabitha Suzuma

Without Looking Back by Tabitha Suzuma

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(from Goodreads)
I used to be called Louis Whittaker, he thought to himself. I had a sister called Millie and a brother called Max. I used to live in a big house in Paris. I used to speak French every day. None of this is true anymore...

Louis is a young Parisian with a lot on his plate - his parents are locked in a custody battle over him and his brother and sister, Mum is always working late and Dad is rarely allowed to visit. But his passion and talent for dancing and his friends at school mean that life in Paris is good and certainly not one he ever thought he'd be forced to leave behind. So when Dad suddenly whisks Louis and his siblings away on a surprise holiday to England, right in the middle of the school term, he isn't too thrilled, especially as Dad is acting strangely again. Why is he being so secretive and paranoid - could it be he has not fully recovered from his mental breakdown? The rented farmhouse in the Lake District is nice, but why is Dad furnishing it and why won't he let them call home? Then Louis comes across a poster - a missing person's poster. And it has his face on it...


This was a hard book to rate with stars because I liked it but yet I didn't love it. Usually when that happens I give the books a 3 stars even though they may deserve more then that, but obviously not too much more because I didn't "love" it....

So with that being said, "Without looking back" is about a child custody battle. Three children, Max-the oldest at 14, Louise-the middle child at 12 and Millie-the youngest at 8 live with their mother in Paris and only see their father every other weekend, but as of the first part of the book, their father is only going to be able to only see his kids one weekend a month and they will be supervised visits!

Their father can't settle with that decision and so decides to take his children and disappear with them. He tells them that they are taking a mini vacation and so starts the lies and mistruths that he tells them. That is until Louise sees a missing persons poster with his and his siblings face on it. After seeing that he confronts his father and his father tells them everything and tells them that it is their decision whether they want to stay with him or go back with their mother. I personally think that that is a huge decision to put on kids...especially since their father will have to disappear and his children won't be able to see or talk to him until they are 16years old and can make their own decisions according to the law. But I also understand that their father is giving them that choice because of his love for them (even though the inital taking of his kids was for selfish reasons).
The rest of the story is about them changing their names and appearance and them trying to fit in with society, but yet keep their former lives a secret, which is hard for anyone to do...especially kids!

And that is basically what the story is about. It was good and the writing was good and I liked that since it took place in Paris and then England I got to learn how they used some words or how they said certain things. That was interesting...and it wasn't too much so it easy for me to understand everything...which I guess it would have still been easy to understand regardless...

The characters were likable and well developed. I only wish that there would have been more drama...more intense moments or what have you. I also wish that the thing with Tessa and Max was expanded on-that seemed just thrown in... And I wish that I would have known what their mother was doing back in Paris...what she was going through or feeling.

All in all this was a good book and I think you should check it out. If you like the drama like I do or the more intense books this book may be a bit slow or fall a bit flat to you, but I still think you should at least give it a chance. Maybe check it out from you local library.

View all my reviews

GODLESS by Pete Hautman (Book #5)

And the last book for the "boys for boys about boys" week is "Godless" by Pete Hautman, which I have read and which I don't think too many people have heard of. This is a really good book! I hope that the posts this week gave you a little bit more of an insight to books for boys. I know that Krista from The Cubicle Blindness was devoting this past week to the same thing so you may want to go over there and check out her previous posts also.

(from Goodreads)

"Why mess around with Catholicism when you can have your own customized religion?"
Fed up with his parents' boring old religion, agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason Bock invents a new god — the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail-farming best friend, Shin, cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price, and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the new faith even more exciting — and dangerous.
When the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying and deadly. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controlling it, but control it he must, before his creation destroys both his friends and himself.

LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow (Book #4)

I just realized when I was planning this 4th book that I haven't read any of these "boys for boys about boys" books except for the first one that I mentioned...Lockdown....I do own all of them though but just haven't gotten around to reading them yet. Hmmm....think I better make it a goal to get on it so I can get reviews up since I am blogging about the whole lack of reviews on these types of books.

(from Goodreads)

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

THE ENEMY by Charlie Higson (Book #3)

The third book for this week is "The Enemy" by Charlie Higson....I also have this book sitting on my shelf and I can't wait to dig into this one. It is a triology and is another dystopian...

(from Goodreads)

They'll chase you. They'll rip you open. They'll feed on you...When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician - every adult - fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there - alive?

GONE by Michael Grant (Book #2)

The next book we have for the boy for boy about boy week is "Gone" by Michael Grant. This book I haven't read yet, but it is on my shelf. This is a dystopian novel and boys will love this one also....

(from Goodreads)

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.
Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

LOCKDOWN by Alexander Gordon Smith (book #1)

I did a review of this book and I loved it! This would be a great book for a boy to read....It has action, suspense, some scary parts and of course the main character is a boy!

Interview with KAREN METCALF-author of In the Storm

I am happy to say that Karen Metcalf, author of "In the Storm" answered some questions for me so I could put them up on my blog for all of you! In the Storm will be released on February 15th (tomorrow!), but will only be available in digital form. Karen is 23years old and this is her first novel....

Abandoned by the world around her, Carly believes she is fated to a life of torment at the hands of her stepfather and is desperate for an escape. When she can bear the abuse no longer and gives in to a thunderous rage, she suddenly finds herself in an unfamiliar, yet beautiful, storm world. This limbo between dimensions appears to be her private sanctuary, but it may just be her purgatory.

No one escapes fate without sacrifice, but is the price more than Carly is willing to pay?

Until next time, Have a good "read"...

1. Where did you come up with the idea for your book?

In all honesty, I can still remember the very first thought that become IN THE STORM. I was lying in bed, and there was an enormous thunderstorm going on outside and I was remembering that during thunderstorms as a child, my parents comforted me by saying that thunder was just the sound of God bowling. But I always thought it would make more sense if he was angry. So whenever I heard thunder, I thought there must be someone very angry above those clouds.

I pictured someone telling this same story to a child. That is where Mitchell came from. Carly evolved as the story teller, and that was it.

2. How long did it take you to write your book?

I started to write it over the first half of Christmas break, my senior year in undergrad. I sent it to a few family members to see if I was crazy, and they demanded I finish it. So I did, about two months later.

3. Are you planning your next book yet?
I have some of it written, but nothing official. Very shortly after submitting my novella for publication, I started grad school, anticipating many months of rejections. I had no idea my story would be picked up so early, and everything has happened very quickly. I haven’t had much time to write on the side since, but I am adding to my current piece.

4. and if so, What is it about and...
I’d rather not say at the moment, but I plan for it to be much longer, and in the same genre.

5. when is its estimated release date?
I hope to have it on the way to publication within a year, but don’t we all? ;)

6. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Absolutely. I was first published for poetry at age 11, and again at 14. That was when I realized I had the ability to make people cry with my words, and that was like crack to a kid like me, who spent all of her time reading. I always knew it was a pipe dream, and I never thought I would see my name on the cover a book. I still don’t think it has hit me yet.

I was limited on the number of questions I could ask but I am very happy that Karen answered any at all....I look forward to reading this book and I hope you are too!

Book for boys about boys by boys....

What a title, huh? Once again, another topic going around You Tube...well, I don't know if it is going around yet, but it just started the other day by Andrew Smith the author of Marbury Lens, which you can watch here...

Anyway, Andrew thought it would be a good idea to do a topic video on guy authors who write books about boys for boys and so me and a few other bloggers/vloggers thought it would be a good idea to jump onto this idea and say a little bit ourselves.

As of this time I still haven't done a response video on You Tube because I just am not sure what exactly I want to say but I thought I would do an intro post on it here at my blog and then for the rest of the week I am going to highlight a different book that is written by a guy about boys for boys.

Most books that are out there are either written by girls/women or if they are written about guys are really not focused on boys. There are some, don't get me wrong, but you really don't hear too much about them and that is the main point I think we are trying to make. I think we are trying to bring them into the forefront and introduce people to books that they may not have been aware of....so with that being said, stay tuned this week for some great books that you may or may not have heard of!

Until next time, Have a good "read"....

UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(from Goodreads)
In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

This book was so good! I was hesitant on getting this book because I wasn't interested in reading an angel book but with all the good reviews I heard on it and the beautiful cover I decided to go ahead and give it a chance. And I am so glad that I did. It seems lately that the books that I am not sure about getting are the ones that I really end up liking.

This book is about a girl named Clara who is part angel, and her family, who move from California to Wyoming so Clara can fulfill her vision. All angels have a vision that they have to fulfill and that is their entire purpose on earth. They only get bits and pieces but the closer to the time of the vision actually happening the vision gets stronger and the angels powers get stronger.

Clara was very serious about her vision and was completely focused on it, until the end of the school year when all her friends left for summer vacation to do different things. Left all alone, Clara ended up hanging out with someone she would have never given a second thought to and before you knew it Clara's feelings for this person started changing and she was no longer thinking about her vision or her purpose.

There are other characters in this book that you learn some important things about but it doesn't get into detail so I am hoping their are other books.

The writing in this book was great! The characters were wonderfully developed and the love triangle in here was intense.

This book has mystery, suspense, love, the whole trying to fit in thing...this book is definitely a book you need to pick up and read!

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Richard Denney has released his first book!!

I am sure you guys know if you have been following my blog that I post videos on You Tube all of the time and have met a lot of awesome people on the book community on there. Well, one of them, Richard Denney, has just released his first book, "A girls guide to falling in love with a Zombie"! It is available in paperback as of today, but only through Lulu. It is only $6.00 so you should go and pick up a copy!

Rebecca Willis is a 17 year old survivor of a zombie pandemic who’s still in love with her high school crush Lance Tanner, who just happens to be be a zombie. But when things begin to threaten her ties with Lance she must choose over saving her own life & the lives of her friends or saving her zombie.

Book Conditions

This is another topic discussion going around the vlogosphere....think I said "blogosphere" last time...oh well.

I think this is a little more a "serious" topic for people that look at their books as "artwork" or a "collection"....So this was an interesting topic for me...one you can watch here....and read about below...

I am so anal about the conditions of my books! I recently started collecting books back in 2010...probably around May or June and at first I was just collecting adult fiction books because that is what I primarily read and so the mass of the books I got were from thrift stores and library sales. The paperbacks (which are about 3/4 of them) are not in the greatest condition, but they are not falling about by no means so that was and still is fine with me because they are only my adult fiction and I am used to them being that way. I actually sort of like them like that.

But then I discovered YA shortly after starting to buy my books to collect and I discovered that I did NOT like my YA books to be used. And if they were I wished for them to be slightly used. YA books are so much different to me. As stated in my last post, YA books are like a work of art to me, so naturally I want the covers to be in the best condition. I will take "very good" condition but I will not buy a book that is lower than that. I have passed up books before that I really wanted but the condition wasn't up to par for me.

So tell me...what condition do you like your books to be in? Or does it make no difference to you?

Until next time, Have a good "read"...

How do you choose books?

OK, so there are a bunch of topic videos going around the You Tube bookosphere right now and I find them quite interesting....I really like discussing things also, instead of constantly seeing what new books people have gotten or hearing on a review on books that they have just read...Yes, yes, I know...I do that a lot on here. I review a lot! But to be honest I have been kind of busy and I was hoping that I would have more time for my blog then I actually do and I am just trying to stay afloat right now. I told myself though that I would try to find time and add some other sorts of posts besides for all the review ones that I do. So here is the first of those posts. I hope you like it...

Danny Marks Ya from You Tube started this topic video and I really liked it so I did a response video back and thought I would share it would you guys on here.

How do you choose books? What makes you read a book? Why, when you at the library or the bookstore do you bring certain books home with you? That is what I want to know...

The reasons why I do are for different reasons. First, it depends on where I am at. If I am at the library I will chose YA books on their cover for sure! BUT...if they are adult fiction books I will chose the books based on the title. YA books have covers that are artwork...They are so pretty, artistic, etc that the cover alone draws you in....Now, adult fiction books are not like that. At least in my opinion. Adult fiction books (at least the ones I like to read) usually have dark covers and they aren't really much to look at. BUT, the titles are. The titles can draw you in the same way the covers of YA books draw you in. Now, after I have choosen a bunch of books based on those two things, then I will read the synopsis of the books and decide then if they are a keeper. But not always....since they are library books I am not paying for them so if I decide not to read them once I get home it is no biggie.

Now, I never, or at least 99.9% of the time never, buy my books from brick and mortar stores. All of my shopping is done online and so it makes a difference to me. You would think that I could still do the same thing that I do at the library but I actually don't because I have more to lose if I only base what I book I want on the only the cover or the title...I have money to lose. So I search for books online by recommendations, watching You Tube reveiws and hauls, etc. There are times that of course a cover catches my eye and I will investigate further but, unless it is on clearance or I get it from goodreads.com, I will NOT buy a book strictly on the cover...

So tell me...how do you choose your books?

Until next time, Have a good "read"...

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(from Goodreads)
I hugged my sisters and they fit against my sides like two jigsaw pieces that would never fit anywhere else. I couldn’t imagine ever letting them go again, like releasing them would be to surrender the best parts of myself.

Three sisters share a magical, unshakable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?

April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds—everyone’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they’ll always have each other.

Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

I really enjoyed this book, (I would give this 3.5) but there was something missing and the ending fell short for me....

This book is about 3 sisters, April, May and June, who discover that they have supernatural powers. Each sister is able to do something different and they try at first to only use them for important things, but soon they end up using them for other things and it leads to problems between the three of them. But at the end of the story they are happy that they did use their powers despite if it wasn't for they agreed to use them for.

I really liked the characters of the 3 sisters and May was my favorite. They all had their own personalities and they all cared for each other, but yet, they all got sick of each other as siblings do.

April is the oldest and she is the bossy one always looking out for the others even when they don't need it. May is the middle child who is sarcastic and emotional as she is trying to deal with her parents recent divorce, and June is the youngest who is just trying to fit in at her new school and is doing whatever it takes to do that.

This is the first book I have read by Robin Benway and I really enjoyed her writing style and would definitely read another book by her. I only wish there was a little more drama at the end of this book.

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FORGET YOU by Jennifer Echols

Forget you by Jennifer Echols

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(from Goodreads)
WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.


Another book for the chick lit challenge hosted by Chick Lit Plus...as you may know, I am not a chick lit fan and this is the very reason why I joined this challenge. Unfortunately, this book helped to emphasize why I don't care for chick lit.

I gave this book 3 stars because it wasn't horrible, but it just didn't seem to have any substance to it. It seemed shallow and didn't make too much sense to me.

This book is about a girl named Zoey, who gets into a car accident and develops amnesia over the few hours before the accident, but she doesn't tell anyone that she can't remember because she doesn't want anyone to think that she is crazy or has a problem. The only problem is is that the one boy who she doesn't like at all is acting really nice to her now and her boyfriend hasn't been calling her so she is really confused and has to try and figure out what happened those few hours before the accident without letting on that she doesn't remember.
In the meantime, Doug (the "badboy") who is all of sudden acting all nice to her, keeps showing up and acting like something happened between them (which she can't imagine because they have never liked each other)...anyway....this is what the book is basically about....Zoey trying to figure out what happened while trying not to let herself fall for Doug because she is "dating Brandon". Which leads me to this...

She had sex with Brandon ONE time. In the backseat of his car. She knew he was a player but she still had sex with him and now because of that she thinks that they are boyfriend and girlfriend. That bothered me because they didn't date at all and after that happened Brandon basically was avoiding her so how could she think they were together??

Then Brandon was hardly in the book. It was all about Doug and Zoey, but yet, Zoey kept saying that she was "dating Brandon"...because of this I thought Zoey was shallow and pathetic. She did have some strong moments, but when it came to Brandon that is what I thought of her.

I liked Doug mostly because even though he had a thing for Zoey he didn't get all mushy and he still remained a "bad boy"....but yet I found him a little too controlling when it came to Zoey.

I was very conflicted on what I thought of this book. I liked the whole Doug and Zoey thing, but didn't care for anything else. I didn't care for the characters or the whole Brandon thing...ugh....

Maybe this is why I don't like chick lit...people don't think straight and it makes no sense.

There is mature content in this and I wouldn't recommend it to teens younger then 15...

A lot of people liked this book so you should still try it out because you may very well like it also.

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