Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by @michellehodkin I came, I read, I cried, I laughed, I recommend. July 8, 2011
I love this book. Most of you who’ve followed me for a while know that I read this while I was betaing Mara for Michelle. I read this story so many times, I have parts of it memorized. One scene in particular, I won’t mention it, but it still makes me all swoony-giggly-blushy. Yeah… I know. You’ll know what I’m talkin’ about when you read it. 😉
It is truly an intriguing, emotional, heart-thumping, complicated tale.
Our main character Mara is distressed, but she’s no damsel looking for a white knight. Noah is gallant, but he’s not sporting any shining armour.
Mara is my love. She is tough, smart, feisty, and will put you in your place, in more ways than one.
Noah will make you swoon. He’s smart, snarky, sexy, and foreign.
Aren’t those the requirements for a heartthrob? Give him a brain, a body, and a British accent and he’s golden, yea?
I will brag about Michelle because she’s my friend and I love her… I will brag about Mara because it’s a damn fine story with suspense and pain, heart and humor.
This is a fantasy paranormal YA thriller and I hope you’ll put it on your list. It’s gonna freak you the hell out and you’ll love it. Go check out www.michellehodkin.com to find out more about my girl Michelle.
Book Review: Linger by @mstiefvater She made me cry! July 4, 2011
Oh, Maggie. The ending of this just killed me. I knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
I was so wowed, I immediately started reading Forever as soon as the ARC showed up, but Linger is still stuck in my head!
The constantly changing points of view were difficult, I found myself craving Sam and Grace, but Isabel and Cole are interesting to add to the mix. I just love Sam so much. And Grace is such a fantastic female lead. I guess I’m just attached to them.
As always, Maggie has taken us into a world we could never comprehend and made it simple and ours. You sympathize with Grace’s need to be a part of something and her craving for Sam and his security and love. You can familiarize with Sam’s desires for loving and protecting Grace, but his need to remain loyal to Beck and his pack. Also with Sam’s reticence to be an alpha, to be the boss… when you’re young you might crave adulthood, but when you’re the one every one is turning to for guidance, it would be nice to shirk responsibility rather than be the one to blame when it all falls to pot. I just wanted to hug Sam and tell him everything was going to be okay, even if I knew it wouldn’t be. I wish I could keep Grace and Sam in my pocket and make everything better for them… make them a perfect world where they can have it all.
It’s a modern day Romeo and Juliet only instead of Montagues and Capulets we have naive human and wild wolf shifters. Both, just like in R+J, have their selfish desires and self preservation in their core, but both can be beautiful as well. This is what I love about Maggie’s writing… she shows us the good with the bad, the feral with the humanity, the pleasure wrapped in the pain, the kindness hidden beneath the fear. It’s beautiful.
I wanna be Maggie Stiefvater when I grow up.
Blog Hop Delight Giveaway! Signed copy of Evermore by @AlysonNoel Pls RT!
Looky what I got!
Not the hot girl, her book 🙂
I snagged this while I was at the Los Angeles Times Festival of books with some of my fellow nerdbloggers:
That’s me, Crystal, and Angel.
Yeah, we’re hangin’ with dinosaurs. This is what happens when nerds don’t have books.
Here’s Tameka, Jess, Crystal, me, and Angel after meeting Alyson and Lisa McMann, too.
We also go hunting for John Green…
I met some amazing authors and they signed some of my books. Alyson signed this book just for YOU!
Would you like to win a signed copy of Evermore by Alyson Noel?
Comment below, you’ll be entered once. If you retweet this on twitter w/ my @BooknerdBecca attached, you’ll be entered twice! And if you follow my blog, you’ll be entered yet again!
For each entry your name will be placed into this man’s hat.
And he and the cute dog, shall pick out a winner 🙂
Bella’s wicked excited! So get on down to the comment button!
❤
BnB
&
Go check out the others!
Book Review: Sean Griswold’s Head by @lindseyleavitt Two thumbs up! Good thinkin’ too! July 3, 2011
This was a good story. Better than good… it was real. I’m not sure if that will make sense, but it’s a real, good, fun story.
I kept forgetting to write my review and I found several hours of sitting in ICU gave me some time to reflect on things I hadn’t taken care of like this.
Sean Griswold’s Head is a great story for many… it would be a great talking point for the young ones. A great way to bring up tough topics like diseases and mortality, things that younger folks don’t really contemplate at all until they’re faced with it.
Now that I’ve been sitting in an ICU hospital room with my mom, I think I appreciate Lindsey’s book even more.
When I first started reading I thought it had a good Sloppy Firsts kind of vibe, I loved the language and slang, the quick pace, all of it meshed well together. Now that it’s been a bit and I’m staring at tubes and talking to nurses and smelling that disgusting over-clean smell, it makes you really think and take stock.
Just like Payton, many of us, myself included, kind of just take stuff for granted… you assume it’s all well and good when no one tells you it is not well and good.
Naivete can be a good thing, but it can also be not at all good. Payton comes to this realization, but she kind of has to hit every branch as she falls out of the Real Life Sucks Tree.
I was completely head over heels for Sean.. he’s a good male protag. He reminds me of the perfect sitcom boyfriend. I also loved the sarcasm. Snark is hot people. Payton and Sean have a fun dynamic.
I wasn’t thrilled with Jac, the BFF, she was a little much for me. There were a few times I would’ve tied her by her braids to the Real Life Sucks Tree and whacked her with a wiffle bat or something, but that’s okay… we all have a friend like that right?
Some of the topics in SGH can be tough to get into, but it’s done so well. It can really make you think though. At least it did for me.
Lindsey did, yet again, a great job making real-life fiction fun and also a learning moment. It’s nice to be entertained and get a good message. Very after-school special minus the gross outfits and poor acting. 😀
I highly recommend and can’t wait for more from Lindsey.
Giveaway on it’s WAY! July 1, 2011
Keep tabs, I’ll be posting a nifty giveaway in conjunction with the awesome reviewers at
Wildfire ARC Giveaway by fellow book blogger @CValdezMiller
Go check out her beautiful blog and you can enter to win an ARC of Wildfire by Karsten Knight.
Yes, I am shamelessly plugging not only to get Carolina more traffic, but I kinda want this ARC 😀 Double dipping yea?
Carolina’s Book Blog
Tell her I sent you !
Here’s the summary of Wildfire:
Summary: Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.
Sounds like a winner ❤ And you gotta love a hot park ranger yes? 🙂
The Scorpio Races by @mstiefvater A lil’ sneaky peek! June 22, 2011
Maggie was awesome enough to share the prologue to her new book The Scorpio Races. If you’ve not had a chance to peruse, please do so here.
I have to say I was sucked right in! As always Maggie creates a little nook in the world that makes you wanna go see what’s happening… very voyeuristic but not… I mean, we’re invited to look, so it’s not dirty.
Everyone knows I would read a remake of the dictionary if Maggie told me to do so, but honestly, I was a little worried when she told us about the premise of TSR. Flesh eating pony, what?
I’m all ready ready already. Let’s bring on the freaky ass horses and the brave/stupid people who ride them! I’m freaked out and intrigued and I know it’s gonna be awesome 🙂
Bring it, Maggie!
PS- if you haven’t seen this vid of the “Sharpie Guitar” go check it –
I’d like to know 1- can I have this? 2- was the bottom of your hand black when you finished? 😀
Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James- Sadly misses the mark. June 19, 2011
I really wanted to like this. I really did…
The premise starts out strong. The young innocent being sucked into a world beyond her grasp, money, power, control… but sadly, it just kind of goes wall-eyed at the end. I was so disappointed because I had such high hopes after having read the summary and speaking with the author… there was a great deal that could’ve been done with the character of Grey and even Steele.
It just wasn’t what I had expected. I knew the story when it was a fan written story and it just kind of got lost in it’s own hype. I truly hoped that the last third of her story would be completely rewritten in a new, unexpected way that I knew the author could do. I expect great things from James.
Sadly, the story wasn’t redeemed when it was given the ol’ publishing shine from fanfic to book.
The ending, if it had been rewritten and broadened moreso to give it a less “Days of Our Lives” aspect and more of an emotional connection, I think it would’ve really kept me.
Fifty Shades is a great idea, just executed listlessly. I know this was turned into a trio of tales but I don’t think I’ll be reading any more.
I may pick up another story of James’ down the road though. I do enjoy her and her sense of humor for sure. She’s an exceptionally fun and talented writer, so I expect good things from EL James in the future.
booknerdbecca 