Feature and Follow Friday (5)

 

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's Views

 

Hi guys! I know I have so much explaining to you as to why I have been gone for so long with no such thing as a peep. You see, I started this blog right at the end of middle school last year, which meant I had a somewhat light work load. Then I had tons of time to read and blog over the summer. But, now that I am in high school, the work load has increased greatly and I have no time for pleasure reading. It saddens me to think that the last four books I read were by force (none of which I enjoyed by the way). So, now that I am a third of the way through the second semester, the work load is gradually getting lighter as we near the end of school. What that means for you is I finally have some time to read (I have been setting aside 30 minutes each night to reading). So yay to finally hopping back on the blogging train if only for a little while. I will be on Spring Break in a few weeks, but not soon after I have EOCT's and Finals, so expect me to be a bit more MIA. Now that I have filled you in on my hectic life, I am happy to say it is Feature and Follow Friday!

 

This week's features are: The LUV'NV and Ginger Read

Activity: Write a letter to your favorite character. Rant, rave or gush…just pretend like they are real and you just want to let them know a “few things”.

I am choosing to do a book I read recently for school titled The Glass Castle

Dear Jeannette,

 

      How in the world did you survive growing up in such a crazy family?! It's a wonder you didn't end up dead. I still often wonder why your parents were never caught breaking the law or jailed for child abuse. What ended up happening to Maureen? Did she ever get better? I think it is wonderful how you ended up being so successful. I would love to live in Manhattan like you do. Maybe you could hook me up?

 

XOXO- McKenna

 

 

Would you write a letter to a character in a book you read? Who would it be?

Feature and Follow Friday (4)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's Views

 

Sorry I was pretty MIA this week, I had finals and talk about stress! I didn't even read a word of my book! Now that it is Winter Break, I have much more free time to spend reading and with my family! So, yay, more blogging will be done, pinkie promise!

 

 

This weeks features are: Lite-Rate-Ture and JC's Book Haven

 

This weeks question is: What have you learned from book blogging that you didn't know before about the publishing industry?

 

Hmm, I guess the most obvious would be the ARC situation. I had no clue what an ARC was! Once I started blogging and heard about them I thought there would be an abundance of them and I could snatch one up no problem. Talk about wrong. Little did I know how much work it takes to obtain one ARC, never mind get stacks like some of the big wig bloggers do.

 

 

What have you learned about the publishing industry since starting to blog?

 

 



 

Feature and Follow Friday (3)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's Views

 

 

This weeks features are: My Library in the Making and Read, Breathe, Read

 

This weeks question is: What is the last book that made you cry? Tell us about the scene...

 

Gosh...honestly, no word of a lie, I NEVER cry when I am reading a book. It may get me choked up and emotional, but never to the point of tears. I am the type of person that needs to be in a sad environment in order to start crying. Funerals and movies are really the only times that I cry over sad instances. Then again, if I read Marley and Me, I'm pretty sure I may actually cry. Talk about a tearjerker!

 

 

What was the last book that made you cry?



When We Wake by Karen Healey

When We Wake
Author- Karen Healy
Publishing Date- March 5th, 2013
Little, Brown
304 pages
Received through ATW ARC Tours

My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy.

Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027--she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice. But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies--and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened. Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity--even though all she wants to do is try to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future?

 

I knew from the minute that I viewed this gorgeous cover on a tour site that I need to read this book. I mean, how could you pass up a cover as fantastic as this one? I love the clean lines and simplistic colors. I also love the cool frost that is shown on the cover models lips, eyes and eyebrows. Overall, this cover is definitely a winner for me.

This book reminded me quite a bit of Across the Universe, a book I read much earlier in 2012 and ended up loving!  In When We Wake, people who have chosen to donate their bodies to science upon death are cryonically frozen and preserved in hopes of being brought back in another era. Tegan, the main character, however, is the first ever person to ever fully awaken from her cryonic state.

I don't know what it was about Tegan, but I found her to be sort of bland and very dull. She was easy to relate to in the beginning of the book, but towards the end I ended up really disliking her. As a main character, I would have expected to like her much more than I actually did. She definitely was very unique and seemed to have a great layer to her that wasn't really seen much in the book.

Tegan's love interest, Abdi, was quite a different case though.. I really ended up loving Abdi. He was extremely like able and I looked forward to the parts of the story that featured him. He had an interesting life story and was very unique. I just wish that his partner could have been just like him!

The way When We Wake is written is in a very conversational manner. I felt like Tegan was always talking to me instead of narrating the story. I actually ended up really liking the conversational aspect of the book. It made the storyline flow and the pages just flew by.

Overall, I enjoyed When We Wake, but it definitely wouldn't be the first dystopian I would recommend to you. I think what really ended up killling it for me was the fact that Tegan was just so darn boring. Other than her, I really liked the other characters and the setting was really cool too!



 

Feature and Follow Friday (2)

 

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's Views and Alison Can Read

 

This weeks features are- Bookworm Brandee and Writer's Block

This weeks question is: Activity! Who do you want to be? If you could choose any character from a book. What do you think that character looks like and what do you have in common?

 

I would love to be Samantha Reed from My Life Next Door. I just fell in love with her and the Garrett family, so I would love to be in her position ;)

 

I have always imagined Samantha to look like Ashley Benson (Hanna from Pretty Little Liars)

 



What character would y'all choose to be?

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Meant to Be
Author- Lauren Morrill
Published- November 13th, 2012
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
304 pages
Recieved from ATW ARC Tours

Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

Gosh darn! These contemporaries are just sucking me right in. I guess I have just had a secret yearning for romance for months now and now that I have time to read I am just gobbling them up! Meant To Be was no exception!

The first thing that struck me as funny when i went to pick this book up was the odd resemblance to Anna and the French Kiss, which I literally just finished reading! Both are about school and foreign countries and cute guys. In some ways I like that it was similar, but in others I think it may have been TOO similar.

I quite like the cover of this book. The colors are vibrant and I like the mixture between reality and cartoon like. I am also really fond of the font they chose. Overall, it is a very attractive cover in my opinion. It would no doubt look great on your bookshelf!

As far as the main characters go, they weren't really my cup of tea. I found Julia to be boring, wishy washy and just plain rude. I had a hard time connecting to her as a character. Jason was just okay. He definitely didn't have me swooning like Etienne did. I honestly feel like I didn't really get to know Jason all that well, even though he shares a large part of the book with Julia. The supporting characters were much the same. I honestly had no care for any of them.

As far a plot goes, I found this book to be slow. It didn't really suck me in like most contemporaries and it became more of a chore to read than a pleasurable activity. There wasn't really all that much going on in the story and I guess that is what made the plot monotonous.

Overall, I enjoyed Meant to Be, but I definitely don't feel like it is the best contemporary you could choose to read. The characters were bland and the storyline was slow and monotonous. If your are looking for the traveling + love angle, then I highly recommend Anna and the French Kiss!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss
Author- Stephanie Perkins
Published- December 2nd, 2010
Dutton
372 pages
Obtained from PBS

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

Oh my goodness! How in the world have I waited this long to dive into this book? People have been telling me for months how fantastic it is and I am so glad I picked it up!

I really like the cover of Anna. The colors are great and very attractive. I like how it shows a bit of her and Etienne (I am assuming) and ties in the setting as well. I will say that the cover model is a little too perfect looking. She isn't what I pictured Anna to look like at all. I think they could have used a quirkier girl. But, overall the cover is appealing to look at.

I loved loved loved the setting of this book. I have always wanted to go back to Europe, but most especially Paris! It sounds like such a gorgeous city and it served as a fantastic backdrop for the story. Reading about all of the landmarks made me want to visit!

Anna was a great character! She was unique and had a great personality. She had just enough turmoil in her life to make the book interesting and not burdening. I really liked the fact that her father was a Nicholas Sparks esque writer, especially because I love reading Sparks books!

And then there is Etienne. Pardon me a minute while I swoon. I don't see how anyone could NOT fall in love with Etienne St. Clair! Boys with rough backgrounds make the best guys to read about. He was unique as well and I could just picture his staggeringly great looks. The supporting characters were all great as well. They added a unique spice and twist to each part of the story.

The plot in Anna was quick and the story overall was extremely well written. I had a hard time putting the book down!

Overall, don't waste another minute of your life without reading this book! The story was fast and the characters were interesting. All I can say is READ THIS BOOK!