Showing posts with label Jennifer E. Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer E. Smith. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Top Ten Swoonworthy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

Type 1: The 'It's Getting Hot In Here!' Swoon


1. Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry
2. Dare You To by Katie McGarry
3. Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

I'm sensing a theme here...

Type 2: The Sweet and the Swoony



4. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
5. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Type 3: The 'OMG Will They or Won't They?!' Swoon


7. Just One Day by Gayle Forman
8. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
9. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Type 4: The Swooniest Book of Them All


10. Anything ever written by Sarah Dessen.

Seriously, this girl has ALL the swoon!


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #69


Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which we feature all the book goodness that we received, borrowed or purchased during the previous week. All links are to Goodreads.

Hello gorgeous people!  Thanks for joining me for a really exciting STS!  Why am I so hyped, you might ask? Well, you don't have to beg, I'll tell you. I had an awesome time at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter exhibit and I got a lot of books that were really unexpected (read all about it here).  See my awesome haul:

Purchased for Kindle


Draw Me In by Megan Squires - I saw this one in Goodreads and it had great reviews.

En un rincón del alma by Antonia J. Corrales - I decided to start reading books in Spanish again and this is my first try. 

For Review

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu - This books sounds really great! Thanks to Macmillan for this pretty :)

For Review Too... AKA ALA Haul

Legend: (A) = Adult  (MG) = Middle Grade  (*) = Signed


The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu (Running Press)* - 3/11/14

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott (Scholastic)  - 2/25/14

Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon (Bloomsbury) – 6/3/14

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson (Simon & Schuster) – 5/6/14

I Become Shadow by Joe Shine (SOHO Teen) – 6/10/14

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson (Belacorte) – 3/25/14

Ask Me by Kimberly Pauley (SOHO Teen) – 4/8/14

Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington (SOHO Teen) – 3/11/14

The Ring & the Crown by Melissa De La Cruz (Hyperion) – 4/14/14

The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos (Egmont) – 1/21/14

Half Bad by Sally Green (Viking) – 3/4/14


The Dumbest Idea Ever! By Jimmy Gownley (Scholastic) MG – 2/25/14

Don’t Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley (HarperTeen) – 4/22/14

Split Second by Kasie West by (HarperTeen) – 2/11/14

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey (Houghton Mifflin) – 5/6/14

One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington (Bloomsbury) – 7/22/14

Dangerous by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury) – 3/4/14

The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins (New American Library) A – 3/5/13

Starbounders: Rebellion by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (Harper Collins) MG - 5/13/14

Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Sheperd (Balzer and Bray, Harper Collins) – 1/28/14

Noggin by John Corey Whaley (Simon & Schuster) – 4/8/14

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Simon & Schuster) – 4/22/14

The Art of Falling by Kathryn Craft (Sourcebooks)*  - 1/28/14


The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Candlewick Press) – 3/25/14

Alienated by Melissa Landers (Disney Hyperion) – 2/4/14

The Abominables by Eva Ibboston (Amulet) MG

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith (Little, Brown and Company) – 4/15/14

This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready (Simon Pulse) – 4/1/14

The Finisher by David Baldacci (Scholastic) – 3/4/14

Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg (Point, Scholastic) – 2/25/14

In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo (Scholastic) – 4/29/14

V is for Villain by Peter Moore (Hyperion) – 6/20/14

Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Hyperion) – 4/15/14

Songs Only You Know by Sean Madigan Hoen (SOHO)* A



Firstborn by Lorie Ann Grover (Blink, Zondervan) – 1/28/14

Angleberger (Amulet)* MG – 5/20/14

The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppet by Tom Angleberer (Amulet)* MG - 8/6/13

The Thickety: A Path Begins by J.A. White (HarperTeen) MG – 6/6/14

16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler (Sourcebooks) – 3/4/2014

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (Scribner, Simon & Schuster)A – 2/18/2014

The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner (Algonquin) – 3/18/14

The Body in the Woods by April Henry (Henry Holt) – 6/17/14

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson (Little, Brown)

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Harlequin) – 2/25/14

Like No Other by Una LaMarche (Razorbill, Penguin) – 7/24/14

The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Hoczer (Putman, Penguin) MG – 5/1/14

Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens (HarperTeen) – 2/25/14

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (Balzer and Bray, Harper)

Pirates and the Farm by Denette Fretz and Gene Barreta (ZonderKids) (picture book)


Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid (Harlequin) – 7/29/14

Panic by Lauren Oliver (Harper) – 3/4/14

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor (HarperTeen) 2/18/14

The Last Forever by Deb Caletti (Simon Pulse) – 4/1/14

A Matter of Souls by Denise Lewis Patrick (Lerner)* - 4/1/14

Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian (Lerner)* - 10/13

The Cryptid Files, The Loch Ness Monster by Jean Flitcroft (Lerner) MG – 5/1/14

Attack of the Heroes by Rich Thomas (Disney) MG – 4/1/14

Game Over, Pete Watson by Joe Schreiber (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) – 3/11/14

Dare Me by Eric Devine (Running Press)* - 10/8/13

Toxic Heart by Theo Lawrence (Delacorte, Random) – 4/8/14

Avalon by Mindee Arnett (Balzer and Bray, Harper) – 1/21/14

Viva la Pizza! The Art of the Pizza Box by Scott Wiener (Melville)* - 10/21/13

Swag!
Watch out for a package in the mail Arianne ;)

What's stacking your shelves this week?

Friday, December 27, 2013

Top 10 Books We've Looking Forward to in 2014

Top 10 of 2013 is hosted by a group of fabulous bloggers and you can find more information here

Liza’s List
From endings to amazing series to the beginning of new one and promising standalones, 2014 promises to be another incredible year for YA (and MG/NA!).  These are the ones that I’m most eagerly waiting for (of course, not including Arianne’s list too!):

10.  Take Me On by Katie McGarry (no cover)
Crash Into You, the last book in the Pushing the Limits series was absolutely amazing, I can’t wait to see what else is in store for us.
Expected publication: May 20th, 2014


9.   Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater
I adore Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series, and even though I never came to love Isabelle, I’m willing to give her a change (besides I do like Cole!)
Expected publication: July 1st, 2014


8.   Be with Me by J. Lynn
If you read Wait for You, you don’t need further explanation, do you?
Expected publication: February 4th, 2014


7.   The Warrior by Victoria Scott
Dante *sigh*
Expected publication: May 6th, 2014

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Best Book Boyfriends of 2013

Top 10 of 2013 is hosted by a group of fabulous bloggers and you can find more information here

Arianne’s List

There are so many things I could say about the beautiful boys on this list! But I think I may lose all coherency if I do, so I'll just let them speak for themselves using some of my favourite quotes from their books :)

1. Isaiah from Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

“I can’t give you the world, Rachel, but I’ll give you all I got.”

2. Hale from Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

“I'm too close.”
“You don't get it, do you? Being close is good. Caring is good. I love that you're emotional and passionate and can't turn these things off.”
“It makes me a bad thief.”
“It makes you a good person.”

3. Graham from This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

“He hadn't realized how much it could mean, having someone to talk to like that; he hadn't realized that it could be a kind of lifeline, and that without it, there would be nobody to save you if you started to drown.”

4. Warden from The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

“I do not know what I can do for this world, but I will not let any harm come to you.”

5. Emilio from The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

“Don't settle, okay? Not for anything. I mean it. You only get this one chance at life, far as I know. Take it. Even if its not with me.”

6. Day from Prodigy by Marie Lu

“You know, sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I just ... met you one day. Like normal people do. If I just walked by you on some street one sunny morning and thought you were cute, stopped, shook your hand, and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel.”

7. Ezra from The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

“She tasted like buried treasure and swing sets and coffee. She tasted the way fireworks felt, like something you could get close to but never really have just for yourself.”

8. Jesse from Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

“You like me, Josie Moraine. You just don't know it yet.”

9. Lucas from Goddess by Josephine Angelini

"I never expected you to think I was perfect. I know I'm not."
"You are to me."
"That's all I care about," Lucas said quietly. "Not-my-cousin Helen.”

10. Four from Allegiant by Veronica Roth
"I love you, too," he says. "I'll see you soon.”



Liza’s List

Arianne, I hope you don’t mind that I followed your lead and used quotes to let these awesome YA Book Boyfriends talk for themselves!

1.  Dante from The Collector / The Liberator by Victoria Scott

“I will protect this girls with everything I have, because if something happens to her, I will lose myself. I will cease to exist.
And I will take everyone with me.”

2. Hector from The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

“I love you, too," he whispers in my ear. "Wholly. Madly."
"Does that mean you'll marry me?"
"I suppose.”

3.  Isaiah from Crash into You by Katie McGarry

“I love you, Rachel. So this will work. No matter what or who stands in our way.”

4.  Josh from The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

“I don't know how to say it - after all this time, I'm not even sure that I can - but I have to break her last rule, because if she knows nothing else, I need her to know this one thing.
'I love you, Sunshine,' I tell her, before I lose my nerve. 'And I don't give a shit whether you want me to or not.”

5.  Willem from Just One Year by Gayle Forman

“By that point, it’ll have been more than year since I met Lulu. Any sane person would say it’s too late. It already felt too late that first day, when I woke up in the hospital.
But even so, I’ve kept looking.
I’m still looking.”


6.  Perry from Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi


“It didn't matter if Aria was hundreds of miles away, or whether she'd hurt him, or said goodbye, or anything else. Nothing would change the way he felt. The moment Aria had taken his hand on the roof at Marron's, she'd changed everything. No matter what happened, she'd always be the one.”

7.  Kaidan from Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

“I was more myself with you during those three days than I’ve ever been with anyone in my life. It’d be easier if I could be fake with you, but you bring out everything in me, little Ann. All of it.”

8.  Cam from Wait for You by J. Lynn

“I want to be here with you, Avery. You don't have to worry about impressing me or wowing me. You've already done that.”

9.  Henry from The Goddess Inheritance by Aimée Carter

“I see the sunrise now," he said. "Because of you, the days have color. Eternity has meaning once more. You found every broken piece of me and put me back together, even though I hurt you too many times for me to deserve it. You are the glue that holds me together. If I lose you, it will be the end of me. The end of everything good in this world.”

10.  Vincent from If I Should Die by Amy Plum

“Whatever happens, remember that I will love you forever,” he says. “Even if my spirit is dispersed and my consciousness released to the universe... whatever is left of me will never stop loving you.”

What do you think about our choices?  Do you have some of the same book boy friends?  Be warned that we will fight for some of these!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Best Couples in YA / Best YA Contemporaries of 2013

Top 10 of 2013 is hosted by a group of fabulous bloggers and you can find more information here

Liza’s List
Couples

1.  Perry and Aria from the Under the NeverSky series by Veronica Rossi

2.  Josh and Nastya From The Sea ofTranquility by Katja Milay

3.  Cameron and Avery from Wait for You / Trust in Me by J. Lynn

4.  Willem and Allyson from Just One Day / Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Top Ten 2014 Release I'm Dying To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

This is Arianne's list and it sounds amazing!  I'm waiting for some of these as well and others are new to me.  

10. Goldfish by Kody Keplinger 
(no cover yet)

I have to make a confession here. I have never read a Kody Keplinger book. But because I've heard so many good things about her, and I love the idea of this book - the story a teen dealing with the fallout from her failed suicide attempt and her romance with a boy with secrets of his own - it's definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2014!

Expected publication: 2014 

9. Take Me On by Katie McGarry
(no cover yet)

On the back of her success with the original Pushing the Limits trio - Noah, Beth and Isaiah - Katie McGarry promises yet another brilliant tale of loss, love and triumph worth fighting for Take Me On.

Expected publication: May 20th 2014 by Harlequin Teen

8. The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
(no cover yet)

For as long as I can remember, Rick Riordan has been one of my auto-buy authors. Percy Jackson is a total classic and as his Heroes of Olympus sequel series comes to a close, I'll be right there along with it - even if its readers started out with it as kids and are finishing it up as adults!

Expected publication: October 7th 2014

7. The Young Elites by Marie Lu
(no cover yet)

I fell in love with Marie Lu's Legend trilogy, and as soon as I heard about this series, I was ecstatic! The Young Elites  three rival societies with supernatural powers battling for supremacy. I can't wait to read it.

Expected publication: 2014 


6BeingSloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Top Ten Books I Wish Had Sequels

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

This one should be easy because this happens to me all the time!  What do I mean by this?  Well, I read a book and then keep wishing for more.  Even if the ending was entirely satisfying  it seems like I always want to know more. It's a curse I must bear!  


1.  The Distance Between Us by Kasie West - There were too many open questions at the end.  I want to know what happens with Caymen's grandparents and how she adjusts to her new life.


2.  Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - I want for Dash and Lily!


3.  The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen - This includes probably all her books anyway!  I always want to know more about the wonderful characters she creates.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Review: This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith


Title: This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Published: April 2nd, 2013 by Poppy (Little, Brown and Company)
Source: Library
Format: Hardback
Group age: Young adult
Genre: Contemporary
Challenge(s):  None
Grade rate: B-

If fate sent you an email, would you answer? When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.
 Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs? 
My Review

I really enjoyed Smith’s The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (see my review here) and I’ve been eagerly waiting for the opportunity of reading her latest book. 

The story begins with a series of emails exchanged between Ellie and Graham, after Graham sends an email in error about his pet pig.  Ellie replies and thus the couple communicate anonymously with each other the span of a few months.   The advantage of not knowing the person at the other end of the country is that they both got to be themselves, and they genuinely liked each other.

For some reason I couldn’t identify that well with Ellie.  It seems to me that her mother transferred her paranoia and negative experiences with the press to Ellie and in turn, made her feel the same way.  I think she gave up too soon on a potential relationship because of that fact, even if it made her miserable.  On the other hand, I love Graham!  No because he is a handsome and famous actor, but because he is so sweet and considerate in spite of that fact. Although he loves acting, he had a very difficult time adjusting to the fame and what that means.  In part, this is a great coming-off age story of self-discovery and on how to set new boundaries that feel comfortable with the person they were becoming. 

The plot is simple and believable.  Nowadays couples and friend meet all the time through the Internet.  Graham did all he could to make sure he could meet Ellie in person because he felt a real connection to her and also because he was so lonely.  I felt bummed by the fact that Ellie gave up so quickly (before getting her common sense back), and that Graham allowed it.  It slowed the pace of the story considerably, in my opinion.  The escapade on the boat was a little weird to me as well.  The writing is good, and easy to read.   The story is told on the third person and we get to ‘be’ in both of the main character’s minds.

Now we come to my biggest ‘issue’ about this book: what is going on with the ending?  To me, it’s a non-ending!  Way to open for my comfort.  I’m sure other readers will make their own happy endings, but my imagination is not that good.  Couldn’t we get an epilogue, a new string of emails after they met? 

In the end This is What Happy Looks Like turned out to be an enjoyable light contemporary romance, but not as good as Statistical Probability.

Some quotes for you:

“Childhood memories were like airplane luggage; no matter how far you were traveling or how long you needed them to last, you were only ever allowed two bags.”

“He could see her, and it was just like he’d thought. It was just like being punched in the stomach.”

:…How can you know if makes you happy if you never experienced it?”
“There are different kinds of happy,” she said. “Some kinds don’t need any proof.”
“Like sunrises?”

 About the cover:  It’s lovely and appropriate as the story takes place in a beach town in Maine. 

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