YA Book Review: Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Release Date: 18 September 2012

Publisher: Little Brown BFYR
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

Goodreads description:

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

My Thoughts...

(ARC) YA Book Review: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Release Date: 19 June 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon | B&N

Goodreads description:

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

My Thoughts...

Friday Fling featuring Try Me by @dianealberts!

 

During Friday Fling , I share with you a "just for fun" romance book or novella that I read and really enjoyed.  It will generally be a "mini review" instead of a full review and I'll often stray from my YA focus into the realm of adult romance (which, in case you're curious, is my not-so-guilty pleasure).  These are books that I think are fun, quick reads that are definitely worth checking out!

Diane Alberts has quickly climbed the charts of my personal favorite romance writers.  Her stories are full of the passion, romance, and good writing that I expect when I pick up a romance novel or novella.  She makes you give a damn about her characters from the very beginning.  She's earned a place on my "instant buy" when her new stuff comes out (or at the very least my "buy this as soon as you have money" list). I've already reviewed a couple of her books on "Friday Fling!":

Here's the cool thing:

Today's "Friday Fling!" features book is her most recent release from Entangled Publishing's Ever Afters line.  Diane is having an awesome contest to promote the book.  Help us get it into the Top 100 on Amazon or B&N by the end of June and enter for your chance to win a free e-reader OR a signed poster of Jeremy's abs the book cover. :)

Publisher: Ever After (Entangled Publishing)
Release Date: 25 May 2012
Get it! Amazon | B&N

When Sgt. Jeremy Addison wakes up bloody and bruised in the Nevada desert, it's pretty obvious that Las Vegas was a terrible idea. And to make matters worse, his ex-best friend's little sister, the girl he's loved forever, is the one to find him on the side of the road.  Erika couldn't be more surprised to find Jeremy beaten up and wandering in the desert. The two have a history and fate seems determined to give  them a second chance.  Can Erika open up to the possibility and take a chance on Jeremy?

I could easily sum this book up as follows: "Jeremy is awesome. And sexy. The End." :) Diane has a true gift for crafting characters that steal your heart within seconds of meeting them.  They worm their way into your mind and take up residence there while you read their story.  Jeremy and Erika are no exception.  Jeremy is a Marine taking his leave time in Las Vegas when a drunken bar fight leaves him stranded in the desert and then being nursed back to health by none other than the girl he's loved forever.  He's obviously wary, however, because last time he saw he, he told her he loved her and she ran away.  Erika's got her own baggage--the kinds of scars that have scared men away in the past--and she's not really ready to open up to anyone yet, especially Jeremy.  Their chemistry is electric from the moment they're together. They're both dealing with low self-worth and I think that makes their path toward each other a more beautiful story where each one learns to see through the others' eyes. Definitely a romance novella worth every penny and moment of your time.

So, I haven't done a random personal giveaway in awhile, and I've decided to take this opportunity to do so and show my support of an author that I greatly enjoy!  So here's what's up!

One lucky winner/entrant will be gifted two (2) e-books by me! I'll "gift" you e-book copies of Try Me and one of the other books I've reviews by Diane (On One Condition or Divinely Ruined) from either Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com (Or if you already own Try Me or want to buy/read it OMG RIGHT NOW, I'll buy you the other two, kk?).  All three are fabulous books. This is the first time I'll be giving away adult books instead of YA, lol, so I hope y'all are excited! 

One thing before you enter: you must be 18 to win. It's not that I totally don't support teens reading romance novels. Heck, I was reading Danielle Steele novels from the library at the impressionable age of 12.  However, due to the adult content of these novels, I'm going to say that I will only give them to adults--I don't want parents coming after me!

So...if you're 18--enter away!!!

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