Friday, July 5, 2013

Book Blogger Hop: July 5-11th







I'm just getting back to blogging after a long hiatus and discovered the Hop had changed its host!

This week's question: Do you like or dislike Rafflecopter and why?


I actually like and dislike Rafflecopter. As a blogger, I like it because it's easy to use and picks a winner, but I'm not a huge fan of change and Random.org is just as good in my opinion. I dislike it as a reader because it's so much to go through sometimes and I have 2 twitter accounts so I can't just "Follow" or "Tweet" directly.

Thanks for hopping over here!! <3 p="">

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (Part 2 My Less Crazy and Emotional, Calmed Down Insight)


From Goodreads: It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I StayWhere She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.



Rating: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Ending: 5/5

I have been craving to read this book for the longest time. My recent break from blogging and college stopped me from reading anything, and this was one of the first books I picked up after my revival. I was hesitant when I learned what the sequel would be about: I did not want to read about a world where Mia and Adam had left each other when I had grown so much in love with them.

As usual, Forman's writing is beautiful and the way she can plot out a story, man, is just amazing. I love to write but she makes me want to forget that hobby, she is that good. I felt is was appropriate that Mia got a break as a narrator and Adam got a turn. The heartbreak and emotions the reader gets to experience with Adam is so real; I just want to reach into the pages and hug him until he's okay. His pain made me so mad; towards him, towards Mia, towards the accident, just like the first book.

The story was so different but still the same. Mia and Adam has grown so far apart but yet they were still so together. And then they meet again! Just for one night they get to explore what has happened between them, and when you read this, beware that there is no way to prepare yourself.


Where She Went by Gayle Forman Review (Part 1 YOU MUST READ THIS FREAKING BOOK)



From Goodreads: It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I StayWhere She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.



Rating: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Ending: 5/5

I just finished reading this no more than 5 minutes ago and I cannot explain the amount and intensity of emotions I am feeling right now. I have not fell in love with a book or characters so much in my life. I have read some amazing books before but for some reason this one was like no other.

I'm a very observant and analytical person, if you haven't been able to tell from other reviews, and I did not find myself question anything once. Not the motives of the characters the dialogue, the storyline.

Everything was perfect. I was crying and smiling and upset and mad and just everything.

As I said on Goodreads, I could die right now or have a terrible life but the experience of reading this book would have made it worth it.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Bared to You by Sylvia Day Review



From Goodreads: Our journey began in fire... Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness-beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily... Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires. The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart... "When it comes to brewing up scorchingly hot sexual chemistry, Day has few literary rivals." -- Booklist


Rating: 4/5


Plot: 3/5


Characters: 4.5/5


Ending: 4.5/5


I was so happy this was not another Fifty Shades of Grey; it was my biggest fear. I believe you have to rate books based on what they are and not compare them to others, so rating this as an adult, erotic novel I was quite impressed. It had a lot more depth than most books int he genre that I've read or heard about but the sex scenes and the writing was just as good. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at all during this book and I was interested in the storyline as well.


I didn't see why Sylvia Day, however, took so long to let the reader find out about Eva's past--I could guess what happened from the first moment of a hint towards it. I can only assume, though, that because the details and intensity of what happened was so much, the author wanted to explain at the appropriate moment and envelope it into the story. Also, Gideon--I hate that name and have no idea how Eva thought it fit his manly, sexy personality--was not as easy to understand as I would have thought.


We have the pleasure of having Eva as the narrator but I would have liked to know Gideon more. And the fact the Eva didn't either, made me question just a little bit how she admitted her love so easily. But as I said, I did not roll my eyes because I understood and it made sense, it's just something I wouldn't have done personally. As we read more of the series, I hope to find out more about Gideon and understand his motives better because I don't blame all his flaws on his strange sleep disorder.



Forget You by Jennifer Echols Review



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 ofthem? 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.


Rating: 3.5/5

Plot: 4/5

Characters: 4.5/5

Ending: 4.5/5

I am a huge Jennifer Echols fan and was so excited to finally find this book in my local library but it's like the second and movie in a series (except Sherlock Holmes), never as good as the first. Btw, this is not a series but you know what I mean.

Without giving away anything, I felt like there was a lot of information missing. And I don't think it was because Echols forgot or didn't think it was warranted, but the things that were missing would have changed the plot and made the story something else. So I understand why but it also annoys me because it made me question and be confused.


Zoey's mother attempts suicide and she has to go live with her terrible, unloving father and soon-to-be 24-year-old pregnant step-mother. That's a lot to handle, but somehow it was a back story, while she and her love life was the focus. I just wish more of her discovering about herself and her relationship with her family was put into the book, instead of hints and a paragraph of summary that she stands up for herself.


One area I didn't need more of was the romance. It was steamy at times but also lovable and I didn't mind that I was confused about how it all came about.