Friday Fling! - Lucky Number Four

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 stray from my YA focus into the realm of new adult/adult romance (which, in case you're curious, is my not-so-guilty pleasure).  These are books that I think are fun, quick (sexy) reads that are definitely worth checking out!

Publisher: C.A. Kunz, LLC
Release Date: January 2014

Dora needs somewhere new to live and fast.  While living with her now married best friends seemed like a good idea and totally doable, their sex life has taken off and Dora is finding it a little hard to concentrate on her own life--not to mention hearing all the good sex is making her wish for some of her own!  A serendipitous roommate posting at the grocery store and three pushy models later, Dora is moving in with three drool-worthy men and she may have truly opened her own Pandora's box.  Attraction ensues, as one might suspect with three hottie roommates, but things are not necessarily quite as Dora is perceiving them

Ms. Pandora...well...she wasn't my favorite character ever in a new adult romance. She's clearly a beautiful young woman who can't fathom that she is, even with multiple handsome young men and her best friend drilling it into her head frequently.  While this was a fun and quick read, I felt like, for me, the character connections fell a little flat.  I wanted to like Pandora more (and to stop calling her Dora because does anyone NOT think of the little cartoon character when they say that name?), but something just didn't click there for me.  I also wasn't quite sold on the main love interest's instantaneous attraction to her.  I'm no stranger to love at first sight storylines but this one was lacking something and I'm not quite sure what.  That being said, I did enjoy this author's writing and general storytelling and I would probably pick up something from her in the future.

YA Book Review: Proxy by Alex London

Release Date: 18 June 2013
Publisher: Philomel
Format: Hardcover
Source: Own

Goodreads description:

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

My Thoughts...

YA Book Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Release Date: 22 January 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Format: eBook
Source: Own

Goodreads description:

Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

My Thoughts...

2014 Reading/Blogging "Resolution"

I realize that I haven't posted for a LONG time (*gasp* has it REALLY been since AUGUST?!)  The truth is that between pregnancy and the second year of my "new" job as a school librarian, I've been too busy or sick to really read and especially to read well enough to actually review books.  I didn't even meet my 2013 goal of reading 200 books.  (Sad, really, considering I read 150 before July!)

So...where does that leave this lonely little blog?  My thoughts at this moment are that I want to "revive" it a little but I don't want to stress about it at all.  I mean, I think the little bundle of joy coming in March will be plenty of stress so I want this to be my fun thing, like it was intended to be from the beginning. I was looking at how my blog evolved over its first almost two years of life and the difference between those first few posts and the more recent ones is interesting.  Back when I started, I didn't care AT ALL about followers or review copies or stats.  I just wanted a fun place to talk about books and somewhere to record my personal thoughts on a book.

So, my 2014 blogging "resolution" is to get back to basics and make this fun.  Will I continue to lose followers?  Maybe but that's not why I do this.  Will I review books that people aren't necessarily currently interested in?  Yeah, probably, because I am SO backlogged in my reading. Will I participate in memes and hops, etc.?  Maybe but only on a very limited basis based on what I really WANT to do.

There you have it.  While I'm going to continue this blog, I see it as more of a fun outlet for the reading that I do personally (and kind of professionally...seeing as I am a high school librarian). I want to remember the things that I read and use this to help me grow as a reader and a librarian. Stick around if you'd like...or not. :)

Book Review: TMI by Patty Blount

Release Date: 6 August 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon

Goodreads description:

Best friends don’t lie.
Best friends don’t ditch you for a guy.
Best friends don’t post your deepest, darkest secrets online.

Bailey’s falling head-over-high-heels for Ryder West, a mysterious gamer she met online. A guy she’s never met in person. Her best friend, Meg, doesn’t trust smooth-talking Ryder. He’s just a picture-less profile.

When Bailey starts blowing Meg off to spend more virtual quality time with her new crush, Meg decides it’s time to prove Ryder’s a phony.

But one stupid little secret posted online turns into a friendship-destroying feud to answer the question:
Who is Ryder West?

My Thoughts...

Review and Giveaway: Infinityglass by Myra McEntire

Release Date: 6 August 2013
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher & Media Masters Publicity

Get a copy! Amazon
(Kindle editions of Hourglass and Timepiece are only $1.39 right now!!)

Goodreads description:

The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -­have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time trav­elers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn't an object. It's a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?

My Thoughts...