Booking through Thursday

Today was a rough day. Remember that cute little pup in my last post? She's currently in training to become a service animal. She's supposed to be well trained. She's gone to enough classes and seminars to be a freaking expert on being a model of good canine conduct. Well, this afternoon, she tried to jump through a window.

Don't worry, she is fine. However, my window is not. It is broken. So, I pack up Roxie, put her fancy back pack on and march her to Lowe's to figure out how much her little hissy fit (she was mad because one of the other dogs and myself were outside and she was not) was going to cost me. While we were checking out, out of no where, she breaks out with WOOF WOOF WOOF in her big girl bark at some random guy. Poor dude jumped like three feet in the air, she scared the jeepers out of him! Yeah, so not pleased with my little prodigy today. Oh, and Lowe's, after telling me it was no problem to replace my window, blah blah was out of glass. So, I have a garbage bag taped to my broken window. Very classy.

That being said, I desperately need to just sit and chill, participate in some fun memes and then retire to my bed with my kindle and a (hopefully) good book! So, without further ado, Booking through Thursday!

Booking through Thursday is a meme hosted over at http://btt2.wordpress.com/. Every Thursday they pose a question about (mostly) books and reading for us to ponder and answer! 

This weeks question is....

If someone asked you for a book recommendation, what is the FIRST book you’d think to recommend (without extra thought)?

That is a VERY tough question! There are so many good books out there and I know at least five off of the top of my head that I would recommend. Of course, this imaginary person would have to enjoy the type of books I enjoy. Either way, the very first book that came to mind was...

 

  When thirty-year-old English tacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.  

 Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

This book is just amazing. I wasn't planning on loving it, I actually just picked it up because I needed a contemporary book for a reading challenge. Then I started reading it and I could not put it down. The details are perfect, absolutely perfect. They aren't overwhelming to the point where it gets boring but just descriptive enough to really draw you into the story. You feel like you are there on the island with T.J and Anna. The way that T.J grows and matures is addicting to read about. The way Anna deals with the emotions of being stranded with this young man pulls at your heart. The epilogue is the most perfect wrapping up to any story I have ever read. The writing is smooth and easy to read and consistently engaging! I really can't recommend this book enough, the plot is amazing, the writing is outstanding and I am more than happy to recommend this book to anyone!

((Edited to add in that I mistakenly answered LAST weeks BTT. Whoops!))

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. Yep, here I am, piping in on a random meme that I don't always participate in. I thought it sounded fun though and there are quite a few books that I am really looking forward to come late spring and early summer. That being said, the purpose of the meme is to highlight books that we are waiting to be published! So here we go!

The Story of Us by Deb Caletti 
Expected publication: April 24th, 2012
by Simon Pulse

Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend—but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage: After jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. But as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse whose hippie owners have a sweet, sexy son—Ash—complications arise.

Okay, So, I am looking forward to this book why? Well, for one, I have heard a lot about Deb Caletti and I have never read any of her books. I figured I would hold out and let this be my first one. Another reason I am looking forward to it? I absolutely LOVE the cover. It is just beautiful to me. It makes me want to read the book and find out more about it. I am already rooting for the girl in the book and I know pretty much nothing about her. I am so intrigued that not even the threat of a love triangle is making me want to miss this release. I am over the top, out of my mind sick of love triangles so that is saying quite a lot.

So that, my lovely book friends, is what I am waiting for! What upcoming release are you excited about?!

Oh, and as a random treat...one of my dogs...sitting on a rock. At the park. Yeah, I am that dog person who takes pictures of their dogs in random places.

Shelf Candy Saturday

I have missed a couple of Shelf Candy Saturday and that makes me sad because we all know how much I love them! Let's get down to the details, shall we? Shelf Candy Saturday is a meme hosted by the lovely ladies over at Five Alarm Book Reviews. It's purpose is to showcase cover art that we find beautiful/interesting/unique/intriguing, etc.

This week, I am showing some more cover love for Miss Amelie. She revealed this cover over on her blog and if you want to find out more about Thomas & January (which I am so ridiculously excited about!!) head on over to her blog where you can read the first chapter! Also, if you haven't read Callum & Harper yet, you should go do that immediately. Shoo! It's on Amazon and B&N and it will be the best $2.99 you have ever spent!

So, on to this cover. If you read my previous shelf candy's you will know that I LOVE the cover to Callum & Harper and I might love this cover even more if that is possible. I am so intrigued! We'll start with the top half. I absolutely love the delicate pattern in the background. It looks like maybe a mix of leaves and ferns. It is subtle and classy looking, almost giving the background a texture of its own. It reminds me of really old wall paper and I think it is the perfect backdrop for the photo and the heart with the initials. I love the photo. It looks young and innocent and the scotch tape is a perfect addition to make it look even more real and authentic. The heart is so very young love, it just screams it. 

The colors and patterns inside the letters of the title complete grab your attention, as does the dark purple background color. You can still see the faint etching of the leaves and ferns but they seem a bit more hidden. It's an awesome contrast and really makes the title pop off of the cover. 

The bottom, to me, is the most intriguing of all! A suitcase? Briefcase? Lock box? It looks like a really old style suitcase to me. There's a lot going on there. The planets, Earth and Mars? I want to know what they symbolize within the story. The American flag combined with the suitcase makes me think of travelling..or new beginnings...it could mean so much! It really keeps you guessing about what exactly could go on within the pages of this book. It's intriguing and curious. The tree is beautiful with all the colors, so vibrant against the otherwise somewhat muted colors of the bottom half of the cover. Why is it so colorful? Why is there a tree planted in a suitcase of soil? What is that crumbled up piece of paper in front of the case? So many questions! Yet again, this cover does exactly what it should. It catches the eye of the reader, draws them in and makes them want to know more about the book. 

Also, as a side note, I love how she has continued with the same sort of theme for the cover that Callum & Harper had. I think the two books would look beautiful side by side on a book shelf! 

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Slammed by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After the unexpected death of her father forces eighteen year old Layken and her family to move across the country, away from everyone and everything she knows, her outlook on life is anything but hopeful. 

 Enter Will Cooper: the attractive twenty-one year old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry. After a night together that turns out to be everything but the expected, both Layken and Will are left with feelings they never knew they could have. Unfortunately in Layken's life, things are never what they seem. Just as quickly as it develops, their relationship is derailed by a shocking revelation, sparking a tumultuous battle between their hearts and their ethics. 

 As if the dramatic turn of events in her life isn't enough, Layken is slammed again when her mother reveals a secret of her own. A secret so intense, all of Layken's current problems pale in comparison to her seemingly insurmountable future. Unable to confront the changes that lie ahead of her, Layken ignores her conscience as she turns to Will for solace. Struggles ensue as both Layken and Will search for a balance between that which keeps them apart and the feelings that pull them together. 

"Hey. You. You who is supposed to be a responsible adult, doing responsible adult things like cleaning your house, feeding your family, walking your dogs, studying...what did you to today?"

Well, to be honest with you, completely honest with you, I sat on my porch for hours. I probably freaked out the old lady who speaks Spanish across the street because I did not move for hours other than to go get another drink and occasionally pee. She may have asked me if I was crazy or possibly maybe asked me if I was planning on robbing her house, I am not sure. I don't speak Spanish. I don't think she understood me either, when I held up my kindle and bounced liked a giddy little chubby girl who just learned she won a lifetime supply of Little Debbie oatmeal pies.

You see, what I did today was sit on my porch in the beautiful Texas sunlight (and p.s Julia is right, Texas does indeed have a shit-ton of bugs) and read from cover to cover Slammed and then immediately purchased Point of Retreat and proceeded to read that from cover to cover. That, my wonderful reading friends, was my day. It was my sweet. Possibly my sweet of the year.

I can't gush enough about this book. I mean, I literally want to gush. I want to jump up and down and proclaim my undying never ending love for Will. I think he has won my heart from all my other book boyfriends (Sorry, Kellan. I told you a long time ago you should have walked away from that bitch.) and I could possibly just live happily ever after with him alone. You KNOW this has to be an amazing book boy if I am willing to give up my life of polygamy with fictional characters.

I don't even know where to start with all the reasons I love this book. The drama! Oh sweet baby Jesus, how I adore the drama. The aching, the need, the desperation, the heartbreak, the laughter, the tears...there is just too much to get into in just one review. My mind is still trying to take it all in. As I mentioned, Will is amazing. Lake is a beautiful, wonderful leading female character. I only had the urge to punch her like...once...maybe. Which is saying a lot because I have some issues with wanting to punch people. It's an addiction or a bad habit, you might say. I loved Kel and Caulder, again, this just shows how amazing of a writer Colleen Hoover is because I have a general distaste for anyone under the age of fifteen. Julia is probably my favorite book mom of all time. Eddie is awesome, Gavin is adorable...

You know, anything else I say will just be gushing. More gushing. Lots of gushing. Just go read the book. If you love YA romance, a good bit of a drama and the most awesome leading man ever, I am pretty sure you will love this book!!

Oh and P.S. Slam poetry is a new fascination of mine!!

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Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I need to read some fluff. Immediately. I need a book that has puppies and flowers and rich preppy kids who drive Mercedes and their biggest problem is the fact that they didn't finish their English essays. Shoot, I need to go play with real puppies and eat candy and watch a comedy.

“At what point does a fly give up trying to escape through a closed window – does its survival instincts keep it going until it is physically capable of no more,or does it eventually learn after one crash too many that there is no way out? At what point do you decide that enough is enough?”

Just by reading the blurb, you know this book isn't going to have a happy ending. I mean, how could it? However, by half way through the book you are trying to convince yourself that something is going to happen to make these two kids lives okay or even just a little bit better. Forbidden is a book that evokes emotions. Really strong emotions at that. Sadly, they aren't happy emotions. Confusion, horror, heart break, desperation, hope...there are so many things that this book brought out in me.

I love Lochlan. (Side note, I HATE the nickname 'Lochie') He's vulnerable and raw. A shell of a broken boy who just wants to feel like he is doing the right thing for someone. Being everything to everyone and never being enough has to be exhausting. I just wanted to hug him throughout the entire book. He broke my heart time and time again. I don't think a fictional character in any books has ever affected me the way that this boy did. Even now thinking about him I just want to cry and that does not happen very often for me. I can read some really sad books and not even get misty but damn, Lochlan makes me want to sob like a baby.

I also just want to say, as a disclaimer sort of deal, that this book doesn't make incest seem like the cool thing to do. It's not telling anyone to go out and get freaky with their sister. This book is about two people who felt like there was no one else in the world who could understand and relate to them except for each other. It's about, at its core, dysfunction and the way that affects a family unit. While there were 'romantic' moments between them, it was almost always a sense of desperation that surrounded them. The inner turmoil that both of them went through showed that they knew this wasn't normal behavior, heck, they told each other it wasn't. Their love wasn't beautiful, it was heartbreaking and frantic.

“At what point do you give up - decide enough is enough? There is only one answer really. Never.”


Oh and P.S...I literally wanted to choke Kit myself.

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Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank God that the sequel is coming out in May. I got to the last page of this book and absolutely freaked out. The ending is raw and real and absolutely emotional to the extreme. It is hard when you become emotionally invested in a character and you read them going through something like what Emily went through can make you forget that you loved the rest of the book. That is just a risk an author goes outside the box of what readers generally expect to happen. Had I not gone online immediately after reading the last page and checking to see if there was a sequel or anything that would give me any sort of closure, I probably would have been writing a completely different review. Without hope that things were going to get better, I might have just chucked my kindle across the room.

The story is about Emily, a high school girl who lives with her Aunt and Uncle. Her Aunt is abusive, both physically and verbally and her Uncle turns a blind eye, choosing to pretend he doesn't know what is going on in his own house. She has two younger cousins and to the majority of the outside world, the family looks like a perfect one. The younger kids are happy, well adjusted, involved in different activities and adored by their parents. Emily goes through life just trying to stay in the background, do what she has to do to stay under the radar to avoid the wrath of her aunt and trying to keep coping until she can leave for college.

She has one great friend named Sara who knows what is going on but hasn't gotten Emily to come out and actually admit it yet. Sara pretty much keeps her sane throughout the story. She is an awesome character. She provides some levity, laugh out loud moments and a voice of reason throughout the whole story. Oh, yeah and it is a long story, just to let you know. I loved the length of it though some parts I thought were not completely necessary. *coughDrewcough* There are also some deleted scenes on the authors website that are pretty stinking awesome. I loved the New York scene!

So Emily is going through life in the shadows, just kind of going through the motions when along comes Evan. Even just moved to the town and is immediately interested in Emily. What an awesome character. He's the perfect mix of caring, cocky, funny, sweet and yet still real. He gets pissed when Emily won't trust him, he is hurt when she won't see him...he's just an all around awesome character. The way that Evan and Sara both love Emily is perfect. They both care so much and yet are still teenagers who want to help their friend but are unsure how to go about it. Emily has told them repeatedly that she is alright, that she doesn't need help and that they can't tell anyone about what happens at her house. It's heartbreaking, it really is.

Obviously, there is a lot about the book I like. I was reading some other reviews and noticed that one of the huge things that people didn't like is that Emily didn't just leave. I thought like that for awhile but the more I read, the more I understood her viewpoint. Her cousins were happy, their parents were good to them even if they weren't good to Emily. She didn't want to disrupt their entire childhood, cause a big scene and scandal when she felt like she could handle everything going on for 500 and some days she had left until she could leave for college. What I didn't understand was the animosity towards Emily from Carol. I don't get why she hated her so much. I don't think it was ever fully explained and I am hoping maybe it is brought up more in the second book.

It's not a book for the faint-hearted, that is for sure but I really enjoyed it. I loved seeing Emily open up to Evan as the book progressed, I loved the true friendship between Emily and Sara. The extent that Evan was willing to go to in order to keep Emily safe was touching and admirable. I am soooo glad I only have to wait a little under a month for the sequel!

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Interrupted by Rachel Coker

Interrupted: Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I went into this book being completely unaware that it was Christian historical fiction so I was a little surprised when I started reading but that was my own fault for not researching more. Sometimes I like to start a book and just be surprised though and this book didn't disappoint!

Allie's mom drove me a little crazy. It was sad when she died but I definitely wasn't shedding any tears. Allie herself had her moments where I had to grit my teeth because she had a way of coming off as abrasive and overly proud but because of her past, I could see (mostly) where she was coming from.

My biggest issue was how long this bitterness and anger clung to Allie. Despite other people offering love and support, she repeatedly turned it down. She was mean, hurtful and just over all unpleasant. I understand the purpose of it but for me, personally, it made it hard to identify and sympathize with her as a character.

The biggest highlight of the book for me was Sam! I am a sucker for a sweet guy. His patience and forgiveness was something to be admired and I enjoyed him thoroughly. I see the parallels between Sam and how a christian person should behave. It did have a happy ending and I felt like there was a moral lesson to be found in the book as well.

As far as the writing style went, the book was easy to read but had some rough spots where the sentance didn't flow in quite the right sort of rythem. I am not usually a fan of the Christian genre anymore (I got burnt out on Janet Oake and the like!) but I am really excited to see how this author grows. I have a feeling the more she writes, the more things will smooth out and she really has the potential to be amazing. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for more from Rachel Coker!

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