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...

Review: The Culling by Steven dos Santos

Release Date: 8 March 2013
Publisher: Flux
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon

Goodreads description:

Recruitment Day is here...if you fail, a loved one will die...

For Lucian “Lucky” Spark, Recruitment Day means the Establishment, a totalitarian government, will force him to become one of five Recruits competing to join the ruthless Imposer task force. Each Recruit participates in increasingly difficult and violent military training for a chance to advance to the next level. Those who fail must choose an “Incentive”—a family member—to be brutally killed. If Lucky fails, he’ll have to choose death for his only living relative: Cole, his four-year-old brother.

Lucky will do everything he can to keep his brother alive, even if it means sacrificing the lives of other Recruits’ loved ones. What Lucky isn’t prepared for is his undeniable attraction to the handsome, rebellious Digory Tycho. While Lucky and Digory train together, their relationship grows. But daring to care for another Recruit in a world where love is used as the ultimate weapon is extremely dangerous. As Lucky soon learns, the consequences can be deadly...

My Thoughts...

Review: Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne

Release Date: 2 July 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Get a copy! Amazon

Goodreads description:

Sawyer Dodd has it all. She's a star track athlete, choir soloist, and A-student. And her boyfriend is the handsome all-star Kevin Anderson. But behind the medals, prom pictures, and perfect smiles, Sawyer finds herself trapped in a controlling, abusive relationship with Kevin. When he dies in a drunk-driving accident, Sawyer is secretly relieved. She's free. Until she opens her locker and finds a mysterious letter signed by "an admirer" and printed with two simple words: "You're welcome."

My Thoughts...