Top Ten Tuesday #48: BFF Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

Top Ten Books About Friendship

YA is known for primarily showcasing young love, first love, and all that good stuff. But there are also many incredible books filled with shining examples of true love among friends. These are my favorite books with frienships, whether the friends in them are boys, girls, boys and girls, contemporary, paranormal, have known each other forever or are kind of new. The relationships in these books make me want these characters for my own friends, and in many ways, they kinda are. Oftentimes, I'll cherish a good friendship just as much as a good ya romance, but if you give me friends who are disloyal and fickle, watch out. I am about 90% more likely to dislike that book. These books are my absolute favorite examples of amazing and real friendships. The friends in them aren't perfect; they fight and hurt one another's feelings, but their friendships are strong and lasting, even with all the crap these characters go through.

 

 

 

 

What do you think of my picks? Are any of these friendships your favorites too? Share your own picks and your links in the comments!

Weekly wrap-up: May 11-17

Because of a trip down to Houston for the First Loves tour and a crazy ridiculous work schedule, I wasn't able to read a whole lot this week, but I was able to get back in the groove writing reviews so YAY.

Completed:

Wish You Were Italian - Kristin Rae: 3 1/2 stars. This is a really fun summer read, but I know I would have loved it 1000% more if it hadn't included what I consider to be an unnecessary love triangle.
The Chapel Wars - Lindsey Leavitt: 4 stars. SUPER strong beginning, but the rest of the book couldn't quite live up to it. Overall, though, very enjoyable read that manages to be sweet and flirty with real substance.

Reread:

Gameboard of the Gods audiobook - Richelle Mead & Emily Shaffer: 4 1/2 stars. Really enjoyed this one! It was great to jump back into the world of the RUNA before I start The Immortal Crown. Apparently Emily is also the narrator for Vampire Academy and Bloodlines so I'll definitely be listening to those as well. She's got a good voice!

Currently Reading:

The Forever Song - Julie Kagawa. Ohhh, my. This book is going to make me cry. I'm like 20% through it, and I can already feel it coming.
Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
The Supernaturalist audiobook - Eoin Colfer

New to my bookshelf this week:

Library:

Open Road Summer - Emery Lord
Side Effects May Vary - Julie Murphy
What I Thought was True - Huntley Fitzpatrick
Salvage -a Alexandra Duncan
Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige
Catching Fire movie (FINALLY!!!)

Bought:
B&N

Wish You Were Italian - Kristin Rae (2 copies)
The Chapel Wars - Lindsey Leavitt

Open Road Summer - Emery Lord
The Forever Song - Julie Kagawa

Amazon/Kindle:
50 First Times anthology - Julie Cross
Sweet Filthy Boy - Christina Lauren

Events Attended:
5/13: First Loves Tour with Lindsey Leavitt, Emery Lord & Kristin Rae
5/15:: The Fault in Our Stars advanced screening. I will be doing a full review on this, and I can tell you that tissues are absolutely a necessity. Toward the end, I was actually laughing as I blotted tears off my face because all I could hear was sniffling echoing around the theater.

Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: April 15, 2014

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: young adult contemporary romance

Format/Source: hardcover, publisher (at TLA)

Status: book 1 of the To All the Boys duology (YAY)

Summary:

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved—five in all. when she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control

Review: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Rating: 5 stars
Pub Date: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Walker/Bloomsbury
Genre: young adult contemporary romance, FEMSHIP
Format/Source: ARC, publisher
Status: standalone, but I totally hope one day Emery has the desire to do a sequel

Summary:

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking.

Blog Tour: Nantucket Red by Leila Howland

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: May 13, 2014

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Genre: young adult contemporary romance

Format/Source: ARC, from the publisher

Status: Book 2 of the Nantucket Blue series

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Shane of Itching for Books. The full tour schedule can be found HERE. Please go give my fellow tour hosts some love!

Summary:

Cricket Thompson's lifetime of overachieving has paid off: she's headed to Brown University in the fall, with a spot on the lacrosse team and a scholarship that covers almost everything. Who knew living in the dorm cost money? An Ivy League education seems to mean living at home for the next four years.

When Cricket is offered the chance to earn enough cash to afford a real college experience, she heads back to Nantucket for the summer. But the faraway island challenges Cricket in ways she hadn't anticipated. It's hard to focus on earning money for next year, when she finds her world opening up in entirely new ways-to art, to travel, and, most unexpectedly, to a future completely different from the one she has been working toward her whole life. A friendship blossoms with Ben, the gorgeous surfer and bartender who encourages Cricket to be free, even as she smarts at the pain of seeing Zack, her first love, falling for her worst enemy.

But one night, when Cricket finally lets herself break all her own rules, she realizes she may have ruined her carefully constructed future with one impulsive decision. Cricket must dig deep to fight for her future, discovering that success isn't just about reaching goals, but also about listening to what she's been trying to ignore-her own heart.

Waiting on Wednesday: Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Beware the Wild

by Natalie C. Parker

Coming October 21, 2014

Harper Teen

Summary:

It's an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp -- the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed.

Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp's done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance -- and loner boy Heath Durham might be the only one who can help her.

Why I want it:

I want this book because Natalie is awesome, and this book comes very highly recommended by some of my most very favorite book people.

Why I think you should want it:

You should read this book because Natalie is awesome, and the early reviews are really good! Also, this baby is on Edelweiss already so why wait?!

Is Beware the Wild on your TBR already? If so, why? Share your thoughts and your picks for today in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday #47: Second Chance Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

You guys know that when I post a TTT (I know it's been a little sporadic lately), I love finding ways to add waaaay more than ten books to my list. And that's why my list today is going to shock you. I'm doing something I've never done before in the year-ish that I have been participating in Top Ten Tuesday: today, I only have two books on the list. Yeah. You read that right. Two books. I just found this topic to be really difficult, and I think I might have been able to comb over my Goodreads read shelf and found ten candidates, but I just wasn't in the mood to do such in-depth research. 

Why is this toopic so hard for me? Well, I don't inherently plan on putting down books. I'm not saying other people go into reading a specific book knowing they'll put it down, but many readers do have a plan to abandon/DNF a book around a particular chapter or page if it's not what they wanted or expected. I don't do that. Even when I have a hard time with a book, I'm almost always able to finish it. Some people say, life is short, why read a book you have to force yourself to finish? The reason I always finish books and movies that I don't love is because I am innately nosy curious. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, but I don't want to find it out through reading spoilery reviews. I want to experience it for myself. As such, I could probably count only on one hand the number of books I've abandonded EVER, but I also rarely plan on putting a book down. 

That being said, I've taken like a three month break on both E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (I know, I know. Dissing a book on release day: harsh!) and Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle (and I was SO excited about this one!) because neither was working for me, and I haven't been able to find time to pick them up again, although I've been assured it will be well worth it when I do.

So what are the two books that make this very exclusive list? They're probably going to shock you. Like, a lot. Here goes...

  

Yeah. I know. My full Harry Potter story is in my about me section, but the five second version is that my mom lent me her copy of Sorcerer's Stone in October of 1999, when I was eleven. I hated the first chapter a lot and stopped reading. Two months later, my aunt bought me a copy for Christmas. I felt obligated to read it (because present and all) so I skipped to chapter two and never looked back. I have been a hardcore Harry fan ever since. Guys, I have dates that prove I was a Potterhead before the term Potterhead even existed (and I don't really like the term so this will probably be the only time you'll ever actually hear me say that I am one). However, to this day, the first chapter of Sorcerer's Stone is one of my least favorites in the entire series (my favorite is "Career Advice" in Order of the Phoenix because Fred and George).

As for DoSaB, my elementary school best friend spoke very highly about this book so I had my mom borrow it from the library a couple years ago so that it would be waiting for me when I got home from college. I'm not a fan of weird names in books and admittedly, Karou is a REALLY weird name. Also, I was uttely baffled by the concept. Just...WHAT is going on here?! Teeth? Snake woman? Making your ex-boyfriend's butt itch? Okay, that last one is hilarious. Carry on, LT. But seriously, I just didn't understand what in the hell was going on. I knew Laini's writing was magnificent so that's why I didn't actually put it down, but the story took me a while to get into. Thankfully, the story picked up once Akiva, Liraz, and Hazael carried out their sad mission AND Madrigal's tale brought the two sides of the story together. Now, this is a favorite series of mine, and I recommend it all the time. YAY!

Are you surprised by my picks? Are you ever more surprised by the fact that I only have two books on my list? Let me know what you think and your picks in the comments. Feel free to share your links!