Cover Characteristic: Bicycles

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Cover Characteristic: Cigarette/Smoking

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Quickie Review: Carter Finally Gets It (Carter Finally Gets It, #1) by Brent Crawford

CARTER FINALLY GETS IT

Author: Brent Crawford (Twitter)
Genres: YA, Humor, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary

Format: Audiobook (Amazon)

Narrator: Nick Podehl

Length: 8 hours & 21 minutes

Release Date: April 7, 2009 

Reading Challenges: 2015 Goodreads Challenge, 2015 Audiobook Challenge

Meet Will Carter, but feel free to call him Carter. (Yes, he knows it's a lazy nickname, but he didn't have much say in the matter.) Here are five things you should know about him:

1. He has a stuttering problem, particularly around boobs and belly buttons.
2. He battles Attention Deficit Disorder every minute of every day...unless he gets distracted.
3. He's a virgin, mostly because he's no good at talking to girls (see number 1).
4. He's about to start high school.
5. He's totally not ready.

Join Carter for his freshman year, where he'll search for sex, love, and acceptance anywhere he can find it. In the process, he'll almost kill a trombone player, face off with his greatest nemesis, suffer a lot of blood loss, narrowly escape death, run from the cops (not once, but twice), get caught up in a messy love triangle, meet his match in the form of a curvy drill teamer, and surprise the hell out of everyone, including himself.

THIS BOOK read like a 90s teen movie, so I was immediately hooked. It was loaded with laughs and I cracked up all the way through. I haven't read much contemporary YA from a male's perspective, so I found it really refreshing. While this book was with talk of boobs, butts and sluts, it also managed to be poignant and insightful. At first, I didn't get what the book was supposed to be about until I realized it was just a capture of a year; everything it took for Carter to "finally getting it".

Carter himself was a great character. Deep down, he was a decent guy but still managed to act like a clueless jerk most of the time. But changing from a preteen to a teen sucks, and I love how the author captured the good with the bad. He sinks to peer pressure just as much as he sometimes rises about it. I liked learning about ADD and thought it was really interesting to learn a bit about its affects.

The most disturbing part... Carter is only 14/15 when all of these things happen. It seems so young, almost too young. I'm not going to say it's unrealistic just because it wasn't my experience, but shit. It gives some insight into how some people evolved over 8th grade break, for sure! Even though there was a lot of teen drinking, I like that pretty much every drinker made a spectacular ass of themselves. Didn't glorify it in the least.

    

NICK PODEHL deserves more than five stars. He's my new favorite narrator!

Cover Characteristic: Babies

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 04/06/15

Hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey

This meme shares what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list.

Last week wasn't so great for progress. 

Work kicked my butt, so I didn't get much complete, save for finishing A Shade of Vampire which wasn't even in the queue. But the audiobook was teensy, so...

• Cover Characteristic: Pink Covers
• 2015 Audiobook Challenge - 1st Quarter Update
• It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 03/30/15
• Making Up for Monday: Authors I Refuse to Read
• "Waiting On" Wednesday: Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert
• Quickie Review: A Shade of Vampire (A Shade of Vampire #1) by Bella Forrest
• Top 5 Best Book Covers: April 2015

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 03/30/15

Hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey

This meme shares what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list.

I finished The Girl with All the Gifts for a book club last Friday in just the nick of time (AKA in the parking lot 30 minutes before it began).

This week, I have the added pressure of reading Zodiac in the next three days before the library snatches it back and The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Saturday for other book club.

This month, I also need to squeeze in three "Book of the Month" reads for each of the three book clubs I belong to. I'm not counting the four other books sitting shotgun in my car that I got from the library when I picked a BOTM checkout (... I said I wouldn't do that anymore).

A plan must be put in place for May... 

• Cover Characteristic: Hair
• Audiobook Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• It’s Monday What Are You Reading?: 03/23/15
• Quickie Review: The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin

Hosted By Breaking the Spine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.

Title: Denton Little's Deathdate

Author: Lance Rubin (Twitter)

Genres: YA, Contemporary, Science Fiction, Humor

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Denton Little's Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day they will die. For 17-year-old Denton Little, that's tomorrow, the day of his senior prom.

Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's hostile sister. Though he's not totally sure. See: first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters…. Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

Debut author Lance Rubin takes us on a fast, furious, and outrageously funny ride through the last hours of a teenager's life as he searches for love, meaning, answers, and (just maybe) a way to live on.

Why I Picked It:  Although I love to laugh, I rarely read books for the humor alone. Denton sounds really interesting, and I also find the concept is really intriguing. I'm also a cover girl; it's pretty bad ass.

Cover Characteristic: Houses

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire (Half Moon Hollow #3) by Molly Harper

Hosted By Breaking the Spine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.

Title: The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire
Book Series: Half Moon Hollow, Book #3 Author: Molly Harper (Twitter)
Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
Genres: Humor, Urban Fantasy, Vampires
Release Date: March 31, 2015

In the next book in Molly Harper’s beloved Half Moon Hollow paranormal romance series, Gigi starts her first job (at Vampire Headquarters), gets over her first love, and may even fall for her first vampire!

Gigi is no longer an innocent teen. All grown up and looking for love, her family and friends worry she’ll go for the sexy, alluring vampire instead of a nice, safe human. But sexy and alluring, with a penchant for biting, could be just what Gigi wants...


Why I Picked It:  Again, a favorite series! I love the Half-Moon-Hallow-verse. Glad I for the trailer; didn't release it was a sequel to a book I own, but have yet to read. That just means more Harper coming soon. All around excited.

  

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  Vicious by V.E. Schwab

“VICTOR readjusted the shovels on his shoulder and stepped gingerly over an old, half-sunken grave. His trench billowed faintly, brushing the tops of tombstones as he made his way through Merit Cemetery, humming as he went. The sound carried like wind through the dark. It made Sydney shiver in her too big coat and her rainbow leggings and her winter boots as she trudged along behind him. The two looked like ghosts as they wove through the graveyard, both blond and fair enough to pass for siblings, or perhaps father and daughter. They were neither, but the resemblance certainly came in handy since Victor couldn’t very well tell people he’d picked up the girl on the side of a rain-soaked road a few days before. He’d just broken out of jail. She’d just been shot. A crossing of fates, or so it seemed. In fact, Sydney was the only reason Victor was beginning to believe in fate at all.”

~ p. 1 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: How to Run with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  How to Run with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

“If Gordie Fugate didn’t hurry the hell up and pick out a cereal, I was going to bludgeon him with a canned ham.

I didn’t mind working at Emerson’s Dry Goods, but I was wrapping up a sixteen-hour shift. My back ached. My stiff green canvas apron was chafing my neck. And one of the Glisson twins had dropped a gallon jar of mayo on my big toe earlier. I hadn’t been this exhausted since doing an emergency rotation during my medical residency. The only nice thing I could say about working at Emerson’s was that the owner hadn’t asked for photo identification when I applied, eliminating an awful lot of worry for my undocumented self. Also, I usually dealt with less blood.

Unless, of course, I did bludgeon Gordie with the ham, which would result in a serious amount of cleanup in aisle five.”

~ p. 1 

Cover Characteristic: Bunnies/Rabbits

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Audiobook Review: How To Run With A Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf #3) by Molly Harper

Title: How to Run with a Naked Werewolf

Book Series: Naked Werewolf, Book #3

Author: Molly Harper (Facebook | Twitter)

Genres: Humor, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Format: Audiobook (Amazon | Audible)

Narrators: Amanda Ronconi

Length: 8 hours & 39 minutes

Release Date: December 31, 2013

Reading Challenges: 2015 Goodreads Challenge, 2015 Audiobook Challenge

Down, Boy

Anna Moder has just witnessed a shooting, seen her car pulverized, and rescued a wounded stranger only to discover he’s really a werewolf. And by her recent standards, things are actually looking up. Lycanthropes don’t faze Anna. Doctoring a wolf pack outside Grundy, Alaska, is the closest thing to home life she’s known in years. But hitching a ride to Anchorage with long-absent pack member Caleb Graham—that’s a risk. Part of her itches to whack his nose with a newspaper. The rest is trying unsuccessfully to keep her own paws off every delicious inch of him.

The problem is—Caleb employs his lupine tracking abilities as a notquite- legal bounty hunter, and Anna is suspicious of both him and his profession. On the run from her past, with old problems closing in, she’d like to stay far, far away from anybody with connections to the law. Caleb, however, seems determined to keep her close. Are his intentions noble, or is he working a more predatory angle?

Anna’s been dreaming of returning to a semi-normal life, but now she’s experiencing a strange new urge...to join Caleb in running with the wolves.

MINI REVIEW:: This one is going to be short. When it comes to Molly Harper, I can always expect a hilarious ride. This was no exception. Anne/Tina was hilarious, of course, as all of Harper's heroines are. I really liked her origin story, as well. Caleb was lovable, yes, but slightly underdeveloped. I didn't fall in love with him as a character. Both of them together is what made the story work.

Cover Characteristic: Brides/Weddings

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Releases I Meant To Read, But Didn't Get To

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, as they are "particularly fond of lists".

This Week's Topic:

Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To

My Answer:

This list could be massive! But these are the books I was genuinely excited for but never got to. I spent much of 2014 revisiting my most beloved series from beginning to end. Especially the Harry Dresden series. I marathoned that 15-book series, and almost started from the beginning again. YEP, I was cray cray for rereading in 2014. But in 2015, these books right here, shall be read. Oh yes, they shall be read:

ZODIAC
Book Series:: Zodiac, Book #1
Author:: Romina Russell (Twitter)
Genre(s):: YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Astrology, Mythology

At the dawn of time, there were 13 Houses in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now only 12 remain….

Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.

When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancerian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts.

Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians.

But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?

WHY I PICKED IT:: L-O-V-E Astrology. I am an Aquarius -- a proud Aquarius (however, not in this universe, however, but I digress). So as soon as I read the synopsis, I was all over it. Granted, this book released last month, so it's not too bad I haven't read it yet. Besides the astrology angle, it sounds like a well-developed world. So ready to dive in.