Quick update

So I’m still in the middle of both Cinder and Bright Young Things. Expect to have reviews for them soon though!

I’m loving both books. Cinder is such a hardcore lead and I adore Iko!! I’m a fairytale junkie, so this was perfect for me. I bought it and Scarlet awhile back, but I’m glad my friend Dawn pushed me to move it to the too of my TBR!

I didn’t intend to read BYT at the same time as Cinder. I take a book with me while I changed the water in our ducks’ pool and I don’t like taking my kindle, so…..there ya go.

I’m a big fan of the Luxe series and I was meant to live in the 1920’s, so this book is right up my alley.

Back to reading 🙂

-M

Sale alert!

Just a quick heads up- Hopeless by Colleen Hoover is currently only .99 on kindle!!

I wasn’t kidding in my review awhile back that this is one of the best books I’ve read in awhile. Be prepared to have your heart broken. Also, be prepared to go ahead and pre-order the sequel Losing Hope! LH comes out next moth and I could NOT be more excited for it.

Currently Reading: update

Why do I always think it is a good idea to read more than one book at a time? Nonetheless, here is my currently reading:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Summary:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godberson

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York’s glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star. . . .

Cordelia is searching for the father she’s never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It’s a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is ­Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia’s brother, Charlie. But Astrid’s perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the ­illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls’ fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Book Review: Twisted by Sara Shepard

Summary from Amazon:

Release date: July 5, 2011 | Series: Pretty Little Liars (Book 9)

It’s been a year since the torturous notes from A stopped and the mystery of Alison DiLaurentis’s disappearance was finally put to rest. Now seniors in high school, Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily are older, but they’re not any wiser. The pretty little liars have more secrets than ever—twisted secrets that could destroy the perfect lives they’ve worked so hard to rebuild.

Aria’s jealous of her boyfriend’s new exchange student. Spencer’s getting a little too cozy with her soon-to-be-stepbrother. Hanna’s one scandalous photo away from ruining her dad’s Senate campaign. And Emily will do anything to get a swim scholarship.

Worst of all: Last spring break in Jamaica, they did something unforgivable. The girls are desperate to forget that fateful night, but they should know better than anyone that all secrets wash ashore . . . eventually.

My Review: 3.5/5

Hi, I’m Melanie and I have a weak spot for all things Pretty Little Liars. There. I said it.

Moving on…since I started watching PLL a year ago I have slowly been working my way through Sara Shepard’s series of books that the show originated from. I saw slowly, but this is book 9. Anywho, this is easily my favorite of the series so far. It seems like Shepard’s writing style improves with each book. The first book (SPOILER: If you’ve seen the pilot episode of PLL then you can skip the first book and be A-OK.) showed a ton of immaturity from the girls, but Twisted has the girls in their senior year and a world away from book 1.

In fact…I was confused when I started. I referred back to book 8 a few times just to be sure that I hadn’t accidentally skipped a book. The girls are no longer speaking and, as the summary said, they did something unforgivable in Jamaica last spring break. WAIT—What? I know. Piece by piece we learn what happened and the girls are slowly brought back together. The girls’ time apart is slightly shared, but (I’m told) is shared in a later book. OUT OF SYNC.

I know, this all sounds like I didn’t like the book. First–WHO IS -A?!?! Second–again, this was my favorite BECAUSE of all of the confusion. It kept me on my toes because I felt like I was having to figure everything out WITH the girls for once. I’m just as lost as the girls and am ready to read book 10.

Thanks, Sara Shepard, for ruining my life. 😉

-M

Sale Alert!

Just a heads up, one of the books in the series with Invisible that I mentioned the other day, Awkward is 2.99 on Amazon right now!

I haven’t read this book yet, but I adored Invisible, so I HIGHLY recommend snatching this one up for such a great price!

Why are you still here? Awkward by Marni Bates…go get it!

Currently Reading: Invisible by Marni Bates

As I said earlier, I got this book on GoodReads in their FirstReads giveaways. It comes out later this month and I’m so glad to already be reading it!

A quote from Julie Kagawa on the cover recommends Bates’ books for fans of Meg Cabot and I agree. Invisible is super cute, y’all! It is centered around Jane her different mishaps of working with the school paper and ending up in the center of everything. I keep smiling when I read this because I feel like these are characters that I actually knew when I was in high school. Many YA books lose that “hey, I know this person!” feeling with their characters, but this one does an awesome job and being relatable.

Side note: Invisible is somewhat part of a series called Smith High. I’ve never read the other books (though I now plan to!), so I can say that this is a good stand-alone novel without needing to read the others in the series.

Weekend Read: Gated by Amy Christine Parker

I noticed Gated on NetGalley recently and thought that it sounded interesting. It is about a girl growing up in a cult that is told that they were chosen to survive the upcoming apocalypse. I’d never read anything like this book and didn’t know what to expect since this is Parker’s debut. I am always excited about new authors and this book did not let me down!

I’m not going into a full on review because A. The book doesn’t come out for another 2 months and B. I’m saving that for its blog tour that I’m a part of…or at least until closer to the release. All I’m saying is, mark your calendar NOW for August 6 because this book is great!

Now, my next read, that I’ve semi-started already is Invisible by Marni Bates. I won an early copy on GoodReads, but I also got it on NetGalley because I’m just that addicted to my kindle. I’ve never read anything from Bates, yet this book seems right up my YA loving alley! I’m looking forward to this one and I’m hoping I can maybe snag an interview or something to go along with it since it is a new release. I have to finish the book first though, of course.

Back to reading!
-M