'Starling' by Lesley Livingston Review

Let me start by saying, I LOVED Lesley's 'Wondrous Strange' Series... Unfortunately, this one fell a little short.
It very well may be because it's been a little while since I read this previous series, but even if I hadn't read 'Wondrous Strange,' I think I would have felt the same way.

It was an extremely interesting plot, Mason was a very likeable main character and Fennrys Wolf was incredibly swoon-worthy, but it just wouldn't keep my attention.

It started well; with a huge oak tree crashing through the rainbow stained-glass window of the new gymnasium at Mason's school, and a naked dude sprouting from said tree to save the handful of students inside from the shadowy creatures that also sprouted from said tree. But, shortly after that I started getting distracted.
I liked the fact that it was told in differing points of view! We got a lot more information, a lot faster than we would have if it had only been in Mason's POV. But, I feel like it contributed to my distracted state - if only because I learned so much without the main character that it took a little away from her.
Mason and Fennrys' relationship was a bit different at first. I did enjoy his Romeo approach to contacting her, even if I did find myself wondering what the heck her neighbors thought of her yelling from her window... seriously, they'd be able to hear their entire conversations! And, toward the end of the book I was really enjoying them together. They're late-night training sessions/hang out time was lovely, and I wanted more of that. More of the development of their relationship.
I do understand that a lot needed to be brought to light in this book, and in order to do that in a short amount of time we needed to take time away from our hero and heroine... I just wish it didn't have to be that way!

As for supporting characters, I liked Heather. And, I look forward to seeing how she comes into play in the future books. Cal, however, starts off fine, and slowly turns to creep-dom. I feel bad for him - and is he even still around in the end?! - but seriously, pull yourself together man!

Overall, I enjoyed the premise of the book, and Lesley's writing is never bad!
So, it gets 3 out of 5 stars!

SO EXCITING :) Jennifer L. Armentrout's NEW BOOK!

So! The awesome Jennifer L. Armentrout posted some very cool news today!

Those of us who LOVE The Lux Series will really enjoy this!
A New Book! An adult romance ::ohh la la:: set in the world of our favorite YA series - can it get any better??
Why, yes! Yes it can! We only have to wait until Spring of next year (2013) for this new book!
Sorry for all the exclamation points, I'm just super-excited about this!
Click the link below for Jennifer's Official blog post about it - and don't forget to mark the book, 'Obsession' (great title, BTW) TO-READ on Goodreads!
The Official Blog of author Jennifer L. Armentrout: Obsession

Jeri Smith-Ready's StreetTeam!

So, I joined Jeri Smith-Ready's StreetTeam tonight!

I read, and LOVED her first two books in the Shade Trilogy, 'Shade' and 'Shift.' But, even though I own the third and final book, 'Shine,' I still haven't read it... thumbs down to me on that one!

BUT! After watching this Ah-Mazing trailer made by Jeri herself, it makes me want to go grab my Nook (it's never that far from me anyway) and dive right into it!! :)

You should watch it too! No real spoilery, though reading the first two books would help... But, still, without further ado... the video!

"Unspoken" By Sarah Rees Brennan

"Unspoken" by Sarah Rees Brennan is an extremely well-written book - though the ending did leave me a tad crazed.
Kami Glass talks to a boy she's never met before - in her head. Talk about having an imaginary friend! For as long as she can remember she's been having conversations with a boy named Jared in her mind - and has been freaking out several people along the way.
Over the years she's learned to keep it to herself though, and has even questioned whether Jared is real or all her imagination. No matter, she wouldn't know what to do without his ever-presence in her mind.
Kami is just an awesome character. She's strong-willed, brave, extremely funny, and smart. We meet our lovely heroine right as the Lynburn family is moving back to Sorry-in-the-Vale.
As the head of the school newspaper, Kami is always looking for a good story. And, the stories -or lack thereof- that surround the mysterious Lynburn family have her extremely intrigued.
Twin sisters Lillian and Rosalind Lynburn moved away, along with Lillian's husband Rob, several years ago and have finally returned to live in their ancient mansion at the center of town with the slightly morbid decor. Only, they aren't alone.
They've brought with them their sons Ash and Jared - cousins who cannot stand one another, and couldn't be more different.
Oddly enough, one of the boys is extremely familiar to Kami, even if he is different from what she ever expected.
What would you do if your imaginary friend turned out to be real?
I really enjoyed this story. It was different than the handful of books I've read recently, and Kami is a very unique, endearing character I'm sure to remember for some time.
Honestly, I did not expect several of the things that happened toward the end of the book - complete shockers to me! (Especially the person behind the animal sacrifices!) And, yes! The ending is driving me crazy! I even had a dream the night I finished the book that Sarah had released several more chapters of the story, I can't remember what happened in said chapters, but I know I was even more upset when I woke up that morning :(
Anyway, in all seriousness, you need to read this book! You won't regret it, I promise!
There's love, friendship, mystery, intrigue.. the list goes on!

5(million) STARS!

"Spark" by Brigid Kemmerer Review

"Spark" is the second book in Brigid Kemmerer's Elemental Series. The first book, "Storm" was recommended to me by my Sister-in-Law earlier this year - she knows my love of YA fiction - and I am SO happy I finally decided to get it on my Nook.

I soon fell in love with the four Merrick brothers, Michael, the oldest, Nick and Gabriel, the twins, and Chris, the youngest. Their banter is just amazingly entertaining, not to mention endearing. It's easy to see they truly care for one another, even if they sometimes resent each other, as siblings tend to do every now and then.

In "Storm," we learn that each of the four brothers can control a specific element, Earth, Air, Fire and Water - however not entirely - and our main hero, Chris, thirsts for water. "Spark," however, focuses on Gabriel and his burning need for fire. Puns definitely intended - I'm a nerd like that.
When "Spark" begins, Gabriel isn't really in the best frame of mind. He feels like he's failed his family. He fights for control of this amazing element and he feels its pull on him constantly, feeding into his emotions, begging him to bring it to life when he knows he can't for fear of what may happen.
It doesn't help that up until this point in his life, Nick did and shared everything with Gabriel - and is now starting to do things on his own, and keep certain things from him - whether he means to or not. Gabriel has his sports, all four of them, and that helps him some, but it's not a cure-all. And, even the solace he finds in that is threatened when his new math teacher finds out he's been cheating.
Everything is starting to weigh heavily on Gabriel, and it only draws him toward fire that much more. One night in particular, it leads him directly to a house fire. Though devastating for the family whose home it is, it allows Gabriel to be near his element AND help those who fall victim to it.
Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on how you look at it - someone is setting fires in neighbors' homes. Though no one knows who is responsible, or why they're doing this, Gabriel can feel the anger fueling the fires, and knows he's doing the right thing by helping the families. But in doing so, he quickly finds himself becoming suspect #1 in the police investigation - and even his brothers don't truly believe he's innocent.

Insert Layne here. Layne is a Sophomore who just so happens to sit next to Gabriel in math class. Obviously she notices Gabriel - who doesn't? - But she knows he'd never notice her, unless of course he's asking for something, like a stupid pencil. It's in math class that she picks up on the fact that he's cheating, and offers her help - even though she has no idea why she should.
Unfortunately for Layne, she has her own fair share of problems to deal with. Her mother left them, and her father tries his best to raise Layne and her hearing-impaired brother, Simon - but doesn't really know how. Add on the fact that Simon is being bullied everyday at school and you can see things aren't really looking up for her. And, as if that wasn't enough, Layne has a secret she would go to the ends of the Earth to protect, something even her own mother didn't want people to know.

Layne and Gabriel get off to a rough start at first, but it is through their uncanny relationship that they are able to grow as individuals. She believes in him even when he doesn't believe in himself, and he sees past the exterior Layne tries so hard to portray, and pushes her boundaries to get her to see herself the way he sees her.

All in all I loved this book. I do sort of have a soft spot for the tough exterior-soft interior boys. They just tug at my heart strings.
There were so many times in the book that I wanted to just reach in and give both Layne and Gabriel a huge hug. So many times I wanted to punch Kara - Layne's closest friend - in the face, for being such a bitch. And so many times I wanted to tell the Merrick brothers that Gabriel was innocent, even if he did everything possible to keep them thinking otherwise. But, unfortunately, that option has not been invented for the Nook yet, and I just had to power through to the end - and end that did not disappoint! I look forward to reading "Spirit" about Hunter! Is it June 2013 yet?! :)

'The 13th'

Today's my 26th birthday... And I feel like an old lady :) Haha.

Actually, I do sometimes, but that's beside the point.

My birthday happens to fall on the 13th, and for as long as I could remember its been a pretty good day/number for me.

My 13th 18th and 21st bdays all fell on Fridays... Spooky! But, I prefer to look at it as GOOD luck, rather than bad. Why focus on the negative??

Hey! Taylor Swift's lucky # is 13, and she's pretty dang successful -- so I take that as a good sign.
Granted, she did work extremely hard to be where she is, but still :)

I guess the reason for this post is: 1. To shamelessly say its my birthday. And 2. To say, we make our own luck. We can't rely on superstitions to take us through life. What we put in, we get back tenfold.

Be nice to others. Something I am trying to do more and more each day :)

"Onyx" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A book I CANNOT wait for!

And will DEVOUR in one sitting when I can finally get my grubby little hands on it - is 'Onyx' by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

"Obsidian" was so good, I've re-read it about 5 times now in anticipation of the sequel coming out. I just couldn't get enough Daemon. And, really, who can?

Seriously.

Needless to say, August 14th can't come soon enough!! :)

TWO MORE DAYS!

"52 Reasons to Hate My Father" by Jessica Brody Review

My Review of... "52 Reasons to Hate My Father" by Jessica Brody

This was such a super cute book :)

Lexi may be spoiled, cranky, meddlesome, and at times annoying -- but she's also compassionate and pretty darn hilarious at times.

Lexi is an heiress to 1/5 of a media empire created by her never-present father, and needless to say she's had a life filled with everything a girl could ever ask for-- except for a real family. The only family member she can even talk to is the youngest of her 4 brothers, Cooper, who happens to currently be half way across the World, with the peace corps. Hardly easy to get in touch with.

We first meet Lexi right after she crashes her brand new Mercedes into a convenience store. Since this isn't her first offense, her father -seeming to not know how to deal with her- gives her an ultimatum: in order to receive her $25 million trust fund, she must complete 52 odd jobs. Each for a week at a time, to make up an entire year. If she refuses, or doesn't take it seriously enough -- she forfeits the money and she's on her own.

It's a rough start at first.. needless to say. She vacuums up an entire room! But, after some failed attempts to get out of the servitude, she starts to find she actually can do some of the things expected of her.

I liked Lexi, a lot. She was spoiled, true. But, I could see why she was the way she was.. Why she took things for granted, why she thought a summer of nothing but life on a yacht was perfectly normal, why an over-the-top 18th birthday party in Vegas sans-parents was commonplace for her. It was her life, the way it had always been. No one had been there really to tell her otherwise, at least no one that mattered enough to her for her to listen.

Of course there's a cute boy in it! Even if he does work for her dad - ew! And, is the slave-driver taking her to every job - double ew! ;) Luke, the intern with the killer abs (I'm thinking he did the shirt change in front of her on purpose... Just saying) is a nice addition to the story. His attitude is a polar opposite from Lexi's - a good contrast to her.

Luke is driven to succeed in life, hence why he happens to work for Lexi's dad. He doesn't want to be like his dad, never keeping a job, he wants to make something of his life... and gets stuck babysitting his boss' brat daughter in the process.

At first it's rough between the two of them. They butt-heads constantly. And, though we don't see him as much as I originally thought we would, he's still an integral part to the story. And ultimately to Lexi's life.

I feel like this should be a video log instead :) -- Loved those BTW. Especially, Luke's to Lexi ::so cute::
'What did I learn from this reading experience?'
Hmm, that everyone has to start from somewhere, and eventually everyone finds a place they truly belong :)

5 STARS!! Awesome book!

Yay! The #Onyx trailer is soo good :) So Excited for this book!! And, hey! A contest too?! Awesomeness! jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/2012/08/offici…

— Katelyn Strickland (@nvrstopdreaming) August 10, 2012

Books that have influenced my life..

Twitter is pretty much my favorite. Over Facebook, even. There is something that I enjoy about only having 120 characters to get my point across, and not to mention, no games my friends are playing on Facebook filling up my newsfeed. Or, the new thing with Facebook, attaching EVERYTHING unrelated to the site to your profile. I'm sorry, I don't really want my grandmother and my boss to know my high score on 'SongPop' (even if I did beat my husband) or that I voted for some musician on 'America's Got Talent.' But I digress...
I enjoy Twitter because it allows us to actually 'chat' with those we normally wouldn't -- say an author. I feel a fangirl sense of glee when an author I love Tweets me back. Even if it's something insignificant, it means something to me. Typically, my Tweets consist of me gushing about their newest book I absolutely adored, and I want them to know. Because I think I'd like to know if someone enjoyed something I worked that hard on, myself. Everyone likes to feel as though something they have made/done has touched the lives of others.
Which brings me to the main point of this post (Jesus, finally!) Books that have influenced my life...
I was thinking about that as I got ready to go to bed tonight.
Have there been any books I could say without a doubt influenced my life?
I mentally skimmed a list of books I could remember having a lasting impression on me, trying to find an example of something I adjusted/changed based on something I had read. And the answer I came up with is that everything, no matter the subject matter, influences us. It may be a small influence, but ultimately we are made up of our experiences, and choices based on those experiences.
Even the fluffiest book imaginable can have an impact on your life.
Some characters influence us to make better decisions, or to think of others first. Other times, they will cause us to get angrier than we normally would at something. It all depends.
There have been plenty of books that I've read that have led me to make different small decisions, I just never realized it.
The power reading has is amazing. I hope to never tire of it :)

100% new to this.. so I have no idea what I'm really doing :)
Therefore, I will end this post before I start typing a bunch of randomness no one will care about, haha.

-Kate