Follow Friday (17)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’s View and Alison at Alison Can Read. It is a great way for bloggers to make new friends and find new blogs to follow. Go to either blog, follow ALL the instructions and then add you link to the list. It’s just that easy!

This week’s question:


"When you've read a book, what do you do with it ? (Keep it, give it away, donate it, swap it, sell it...)


It depends on the book. I buy most if not all of my books. I am not patient enough to wait for the library to have a copy available for me to check out. And I don't like being on a time-limit to read my books, which usually happens with new releases. It makes the rebellious teenager in me come out and I swear, I read slower! So, I tend to buy books rather than borrow them. Once I read it, if I liked it,  it gets passed on to one of my daughters, and when she is done with it, she passes it on to the other daughter. If I didn't like a book, I usually take it to the local Half-Price Books and sell it for credit to buy more books. They take all of my books, whether they buy them or not, and they donate what they don't buy. One stop. I will usually keep books anywhere from six months to a year before I decide whether or not to get rid of it. I always keep books I loved, because I know I will read them again. Needless to say, my bookshelves are overflowing.


Leave a link in the comment section to your Follow Friday and I will stop by!   

Teaser Tuesday (December 13)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

·         Grab your current read

·         Open to a random page

·         Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

·         BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

·         Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from page 120 of Crossed by Ally Condie (finally!):


"They also served another purpose for the Society. Many of the people in the Outer Provinces were too afraid to try to escape to the Carving because the Society started spreading rumors about how savage the farmers are."  

I am so excited to finally read this book! I have been waiting forever--or at least it feels that way--for it to come out! 

Now, leave a link to your Teaser Tuesday in the comments section and I will stop by and check it out.

5 Reasons to Leave a Lover-A Novella and Other Short Stories by Carolyn Moncel

Title:  5 Reasons to Leave A Lover—A Novella and Other Short Stories

Author:  Carolyn Moncel

Genre:  Adult

Publisher:  Self-Published

Format:  Kindle

  *author request to review

While there are most certainly many ways to leave a lover—as Paul McCartney told us in song—there are only a few reasons to leave a lover. Moncel explores these reasons in her collection 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover.  Moncel’s characters bring to life the heartache experienced when a relationship fractures apart, no matter the reason.

Carolyn Moncel’s 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover—A Novella and Other Short Stories is a quick read exploring the various reasons that relationships end. In the novella, she brings back characters introduced in the book Encounters in Paris, and shows the reader life after the discovery of an affair. Moncel explores the various sides of the story found in any love triangle. Every point of view is different.  Moncel very effectively captures the pain, desperation and heartache of a betrayed woman through Ellery.  Katrine shows us the anguish and confusion felt by a mistress, while Julien personifies the cheating husband. I thought this tale was very well-told. The two short stories that follow explore the point of view of an interested party during the break-up of a marriage and the loss of love after many, many years.

5 Reasons to Leave a Lover is a very easy read, I finished it in just a couple of days (I was reading multiple books at the time and I kept switching back and forth). It’s not your typical chick-lit, instead it explores love and loss in very touching stories. Despite not having read Encounters in Paris, I was able to follow Ellery’s and Julien’s story easily. I especially enjoyed the little twist in the short story Or Maybe Just Leave, Steve. Overall, this collection of short stories is an enjoyable read, especially if you are looking to fill a quiet, rainy afternoon.

My grade for 5 Reasons:

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Title:  Cinder (Book One in the Lunar Chronicles) 

Author:  Marissa Meyer

Genre:  Young Adult Fantasy/Science Fiction

Publisher:  Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group 

Format/Pages:   Kindle/NetGalley

Release Date:  January 3, 2012

The streets are crowded with not only humans, but androids as well. The world’s population is succumbing to a deadly plague while the Lunars watch and wait to swoop in. And one unknown, lonely girl could hold the fate of the entire world in her hands. 

Cinder is just nobody. Her talent as a mechanic is overshadowed by the fact that she is a cyborg.  She is a second-class citizen who knows nothing about her past.  Not only does her stepmother hate her, but when her stepsister, Peony becomes a victim of the plague, Cinder is blamed.  After Cinder meets Prince Kai, who she is strangely attracted to, she becomes embroiled in a struggle for intergalactic supremacy. She now has to try to discover the past that has been kept secret from her so she can save a world that shuns her.

If you can’t tell from the title, Cinder is a twist on the fairy tale, Cinderella. It even has quotes from the original tale interspersed throughout the book. There are some similarities:  handsome prince, wicked stepmother, evil stepsisters (well, one of them is evil), and a put-upon heroine. This version of Cinderella has a pretty cool twist though; it is set in the extremely far away future. Cinder is a cyborg, a group of people who are shunned by every one in society. She works as a mechanic, supporting her adoptive family. She remembers nothing about her former life. As luck would have it, the future emperor, Prince Kai wanders into her shop trying to get one of his android fixed. And that is when Cinder’s life changes forever. Now she must contend with plagues, doctors and the scariest of all, the queen of the Lunars, a race of “humans” hell-bent on making Earth their own.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past that I am not a huge science fiction fan—aliens, spaceships and the like are usually not my thing. I literally started and stopped this book three times before I finally just decided to read it. And it wasn’t a lack of quality in the book, it was me. Those three times I never got past page one. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t like it because of the science fiction aspect of the story. When I finally decided to read it, it grabbed me and held on to me. Meyer has created such an intriguing world that I found myself completely engrossed in this book. I really want to know more about it. A prequel would make me very happy; I am so curious about what has happened in the world before we even meet Cinder. But the sequels will make me even happier! I loved the characters in this story. Cinder is a fantastic heroine—smart, gutsy and ready to take on the world. Prince Kai doesn’t even realize he is the most gorgeous man in the kingdom or what a fantastic leader he will be. He is unassuming, vulnerable yet strong and darn it, my heart melts every time he doubts himself. You just want to give him a hug and tell him everything will be ok. And the Lunars, well, let’s just say they are definitely not a race of people you want to mess with. Reading the things they have done literally made me cringe. They are truly a horrid group of people. Meyer’s storytelling is amazing and the emotional rollercoaster she takes the reader on in this book is well worth the ride. I highly recommend Cinder. It is a great story.  

My grade for Cinder:

 

Follow Friday (16)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’sView and Alison at Alison Can Read. It is great way for bloggers to make new friends and find new blogs to follow. Go to either blog, follow ALL the instructions and then add your link to the list. It's just that easy!

This week's question:

"Keeping with the Spirit of Giving this season, what book do you think EVERYONE should read and if you could, you would buy it for all your family and friends?

Tough question. There are so many books I absolutely love.  I tried to think of the last book I read that I literally could not put down, the book that kept me up half the night because I just had to know what happened. I narrowed it down to three, two young adult novels and one adult novel that has been out for awhile, but I just recently read it.

The first YA novel I chose is Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick. I absolutely loved this book. It was unbelievably well-written, with an amazing story. This is one of my favorite books of the year.

The second YA novel I have chosen is Divergent by Veronica Roth. In the extremely cluttered genre of YA dystopian novels, this one stands out. A lot. Fantastic book.  

And finally, I chose Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This book blew my mind. It was so realistic, that I felt like I was actually at the circus in the 1920s. Any author that can suspend my disbelief like that should have her books read by everyone.

Now for the follow fun. Leave a link to your Follow Friday in the comment section and I will stop by and check it out. I am excited to see what books everyone thinks should be the go-to gift this year.

On A Dark Wing

Title:  On A Dark Wing

Author:  Jordan Dane

Genre:  Young Adult

Publisher:  Harlequin/Harlequin Teen

Format:  NetGalley/Kindle

Release Date:  December 27, 2011

After surviving a horrific car accident that claimed her mother’s life, Abbey Chandler believes she will never be normal. Touching the hand of a beautiful boy—one made up of the clouds and sky—changed her life forever. Now the Angel of Death is using Abbey’s secret crush, Nate, to get to her.  And Nate will pay the price.

On A Dark Wing begins with a car accident and a death, shown to the reader in a flashback. Abbey Chandler survived a terrifying car accident at age ten, an accident that claimed the life of her mother. Abbey has carried that guilt for five years, and it has changed her life. Her relationship with her father is practically non-existent and very strained. She is an oddball at school; her only friend is the wheelchair bond Tanner Lange and her secret crush, Nate Holden, doesn’t even know she exists. Things only get worse when Tanner discovers awful pictures of Abbey posted on a website. Abbey decides to escape town, and possible humiliation, by accompanying her father on his yearly trek to their cabin. Meanwhile, Nate, his father and his best friend set out to climb Denali, an intimidating mountain towering above the skies of Alaska. It is there, on that mountain, that events are set in motion that will change everyone’s life forever. Death’s fascination with Abbey will bring Nate to the brink of death and beyond.

I am kind of on the fence about this book. It had an interesting plot, original and thought-provoking. I felt like it had a lot of potential, but it really didn’t grab my interest like I had hoped. There were some aspects I liked. On A Dark Wing is told from varying points of view. The primary point of view is Abbey’s, told in first person. Other aspects of the story are told from a third-person viewpoint—Nate, Tanner, and Nate’s mother and father. My initial reaction was that this might be confusing, but it worked surprisingly well, giving us a part of the story that Abbey would not have known or been able to tell. I liked the Dane’s message as well:  the reality of a crush.  I also enjoyed Tanner, he was a very refreshing character. Unfortunately, I felt like the other characters were cardboard caricatures, stock and uninteresting. Nate was the typical popular pretty boy, every girl’s dream, Brittany (I think that is her name) was the typical mean girl and Abbey was the typical misunderstood weirdo. I couldn’t find enough about Abbey to fascinate me or compel me to care a great deal about her. Also, this book had a “never-ending” ending. Every time I thought it was over, well, it wasn’t. It just went on way too long.  Let’s just say I was disappointed with the majority of this story.

So, to sum it up, I really didn’t enjoy this book as much as I had hoped I would. It had amazing potential, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to it.

My grade for On A Dark Wing:

  

Follow Friday (15)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’sView and Alison at Alison Can Read. It is great way for bloggers to make new friends and find new blogs to follow. Go to either blog, follow ALL the instructions and then add your link to the list. It's just that easy!

This week's question:

Question: What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books? Maybe you don't like love triangles or thin plots? Tell us about it!

Wow, where to start?

A plot I can walk through:  I cannot handle an unbelievable plot. Now, I'm not saying I don't like science fiction, paranormal, dystopian books or such. What I don't like is the forced, "please-believe-that-I-am-plausible" plots that are practically begging you to believe in them. The ones that give you so much back story you could wallpaper a large room with it, because the author figures if they drown you in information, you will digest any swill they put in front of you. But the plot is still unbelievable. There are no amount of words that can change that. A wet-paper bag plot is still a wet paper-bag plot.

The blatant rip-off books:  You know the ones I am talking about. The ones that took Twilight or Hunger Games and changed a few key things (like the setting or the character names) and then tried to pass it off as an original book. Ummm, yeah, I already read that book, thank you very much. Guess what?  Your readers are more intelligent than you are giving them credit for and they know a rip-off when they see it.

Punctuation and editing issues:  I have no problem with these in an ARC, but I do have an issue with it in a book put out in the marketplace. There is a popular author I read whose books often have multiple editing errors and she very rarely puts question marks at the end of her questions. And it is sooo noticeable! It drives me nuts! First time I noticed it, I waved it off. But after the fifteenth or twentieth time I noticed it, I realized it was her writing style. But a question is a question. And sometimes the English teacher in me can't help but notice it.

Lack of follow-through in a story:  I think probably my biggest pet peeve is the author that begins a story line in a book, pulls the reader in with it and then drops it, leaving the reader wanting more. This is most often seen in books with multiple plot lines flowing at one time. I understand that sometimes stories drift from their original intent, but I hate to be left hanging. 

I bet I could think of a hundred more (sometimes I can be unforgiving) but these are probably my biggest pet peeves. What are yours? Leave a link to your Follow Friday post in the comments and I will hope by and check it out!