DANCE ACADEMY LOVE AFFAIR

I know this is a book blog, but I can't help sharing my love for this show! 

I can't say enough great things about Dance Academy. I just loved it. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but pretty soon watching my nightly episodes was all I thought about throughout the day. It was like falling in love, because with each episode I was more impressed with the layered characters, the perfect level of realistic drama, and the dancing...oh my the dancing!!!! The choreography alone is another character in the story it is so well done and danced by the actors. I loved how the ballet dancing cliches like boys being gay, eating disorders by the girls, and falling in love with your dance partner were all touched on but not in a way that made me feel anything but what it would really be like to be a dancer.

Also Sydney, Australia shines in the show too...Just watch it already! I can't wait for season 3!

This is currently availible on Amazon and is free for Prime members which is how I found it. It also might be on netflix too, but I am not sure since I don't do netflix, but many of the reviews mention finding this show on netflix. 

Check it out on Amazon HERE!

BAD BOY HOP: FREEFALL BY MINDI SCOTT

 

I freaking love bad boys (in books only, in real life? no thanks), so of course I had to be a part of the Bad Boy Hop! Freefall by Mindi Scott is one of my favorite bad boy books. First of all, the best bad boys aren't bad boys at heart. They are good deep down inside they just need a little nudge in the right direction. Our hero in Freefall is just that. Scott's writing is really wonderful, in this book she captures the male voice so well I completely forgot I was reading a book by a girl. Plus the utterly swoony moments don't hurt this book one bit.

BOOK BLURB:

How do you come back from the point of no return?

Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.

Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.

Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Read more about this book HERE. 

I'm going to send one winner a copy! Yippee Skippee!

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DELLA SAYS: OMG!

The cover and title for this book are all wrong. You think you are going to find yourself reading a bunch of texts or emails telling the story, but there is hardly any of that. Despite some references to facebook and email this is just a basic coming of age story. And it is kind of delightful. It is light and funny and just overall cute. I love British teens, why does their life seem way more posh than American teen life? :) 

BOOK BLURB:

Della’s over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party – but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...

When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della’s distraught – how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?

This is kind of a mature YA read. Very open talk of sex and other such activities.

Read more about it HERE.

THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY: KATJA MILLAY

Ok, so normally I wouldn't have given this book the chance I did. I was about 30% into it before I started to really like it. The main characters are really angry and hateful and there is little to no dialogue in the beginning. However, I kept reading on because of the amazing reviews I had read. Dialogue between all of the characters shines in this book so as the characters started interacting this was really freaking hard to put down. In the end, I loved it!

BOOK BLURB:

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

This book is currently available for your Kindle, and will be published in the summer if you want the paperback. Either way, keep your eye on it. Read more about it HERE.

BEST OF 2012 GIVEAWAY

2012 was good to this little reader. 

My reading total for 2012 is 238 books. I might get a few more in before January comes, but that is still a heck of a lot of books I'd say. There was a long list of books that I didn't finish. I would start a  book and if it didn't hold my interest I would move on. That happened rarely last year, but this year I was trying to read all of the new releases and also discover some lesser known books to love. 

Because I was digging for gems I did discover a new beloved genre I call British Chick-Lit, which has a totally different feel than Chick-Lit in the states. I found my new very bestest favoritest author this year Miss Sarra Manning who I freaking love and adore. Manning's books and other Britsh books weren't books that my library had so I had to buy them all used from Amazon, and many came from across the pond. In the end, it was worth it to have them in my permanent library for sure. 

I started this blog in January and didn't even think I would ever get even 100 followers in a years time and I am so happy to have the followers that I do have. Much thanks goes to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for hosting so many awesome blog hops that have brought readers my way. I kind of love hosting a giveaway. 

For this giveaway a winner gets to chose which book they would like from my top 10 favorites of 2012!

10. Johnny Be Good & Baby Be Mine by Paige Toon

I am listing these two books as one book because they go hand in hand together like BFFs! I have loved all of Toon's books that I read this year, but these were my personal favorites because I love a bad boy rock star. Toon has a way of sucking you in to a world of great detail and not boring you one bit.

9. The Queen of Kentucky by Alicia Whitaker

I read this all the way back on January 2 and I am still thinking about it fondly. So many books try to capture this feeling of coming of age and this book is super successful at making you feel 14 again. Ricky Jo (or Erica as she would like to be called now) is adorable and strong, while still being young and kinda stupid. I wanted to cheer for her every step of the way. Plus this book has one freaking sweety as the boy next door.

8. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

This was probably the book I was  most excited to read in 2012, and it didn't disappoint. Crowley has the gift of turning ordinary words into something magical without feeling like the words are trying to hard to be poetic. In Graffiti Moon she again created characters that just like in my #2 read of 2011 book A Little Wanting Song,  I could read about them doing nothing for hours. 

7. I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella's books are either strong hits or strong misses for me. And I've Got Your Number was a super strong hit for me. I was laughing out loud before I even finished the first chapter. My daughter kept asking me "What is so funny Mommy?" while I was enjoying this book. It is a typical romantic comedy without being typical. It reads like your favorite rom-com flick, and I dare say will soon be one.

6. The Savage Grace by Bree Despain

This book has gotten a lot of play on my blog because the author is one of my bestest pals, but her being my friend does not guarantee a spot on my top ten of the year for her book. This is one amazing end to a great series. Each book in The Dark Divine trilogy gets better and more clever, which is a rare thing with series books in my opinion. The way this book ends is just simply perfect, and it also doesn't hurt that my husband is a character in this last installment.

5. My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson

I was sucked into this tale by page two. This is my favorite kind of novel. I felt totally consumed by the characters and their story while I read this, with characters that I feel like I could easily know in real life. There is talk of sex, but with nothing explicit which I always appreciate. The drama is the perfect amount. It isn't over the top but you find the story just enough out of the ordinary day-to-day life stuff to keep you reading more and more.

4. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I'm surprised I even read this. I don't like fantasy type books, and I didn't like previous books by this author at all. But I was seriously surprised to find myself in love with this story. It was so beautifully written and I loved reading Tinkerbell's voice. The story is childlike, but dark. The best kind of tale with heartfelt quotes on love and loss.

3. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sarra Manning

Oh Sarra Manning how I love you. When I bought this I had read some of Manning's YA titles and I wanted to see how she writes for adults. This book follows the life of two dysfunctional adults that find functionality in each other. It has some saucy scenes that is for sure, but Manning doesn't write her love scenes in a typical romance style way, but more in a way that just tells it like it is. I can't wait to re-read this.

2. Nobody's Girl by Sarra Manning

I normally would avoid putting two books by the same author on a list, but this was my favorite YA by awesome Sarra Manning and therefore worth sharing. This one started out a little frustrating with our sweet main character being tortured by the mean girls at school, but as soon as they are out of the picture this book really takes off. Read this book and walk hand in hand through the streets of Paris with undoubtedly my favorite male love interest of all freaking time!

1. The Probability Of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

This magical book is spent in the realm of reality while tip-toeing into the fantasy. I seem to be immune to sad books, but this one had me laughing throughout and crying for ten minutes after I finished. It is so rare that I read anything that is different than any other book I have ever read, and this was just that. I want to live in the world where this book takes place.

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THE BLOODY JACK BOOKS: L.A. MEYER

I'm on book four of this awesome little series. This first book came out 10 years ago and I really enjoyed it. I'd heard about this book for a long time, but kept putting off reading it since it isn't anything like I normally enjoy. But Jacky is one of the greatest characters I have ever had the joy of reading. She is so brassy and smart while also being silly and impulsively stupid. I keep thiking I am going to get sick of reading about her, but even reading book four I find myself still in love with her. 

I recommend you give the first book a try and see if you fall in love with her too.

BOOK BLURB (BOOK ONE):

Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas.
There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret. This could be the adventure of her life--if only she doesn't get caught. . . .

The books are so clean in words that a child could enjoy them, however the subjects that Jacky talks about and encounters are harsh. Attempted rape, drinking, prostitutes, blood and death.  

Read more about this first of the series HERE.

THE EDGE OF NEVER: J.A. REDMERSKI

I've come to expect nothing great from all of these popular Kindle self published eBooks. But I gotta tell ya folks, this one is a winner in my book. First of all, I found it terribly hard to put down. It is actually quite long and detailed, but it is so well written that it feels all consuming instead of tedious. The main characters are alive and full while being terribly good at bantering with each other. They also have some pretty sexy moments together.

BOOK BLURB:

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

This reads a little bit like a YA book, because the characters actually act their age. They aren't adults in a high school. (Like in my much loved Vampire Diaries, a world where you look 40, but still play a HS junior...I'm talking to you Stefan/Paul Wesley!) Also, since it has all the elements of a traditional romance novel (some very sexy times), I was glad the characters were older.  But it isn't all about the sex in this one like it is in so many of the New Adult books out there ready for your Kindle. It is about sadness, joy, connection, friendship, and of course true love. Awe.

This book is overwhelmingly loved. Read more about it HERE.