30% OFF ANY BOOK ON AMAZON.COM

Just wanted to give you heads up on a deal. You can get 30% off any one book on Amazon.com using the code BOOKDEAL. Deal expires (I think) on December 1st.

I bought Eleanor & Park, what are you going to buy? :)

PARALLEL: LAUREN MILLER

The cover of this book is pretty, but I admit I judged the cover. I had the book checked out from the library twice before I finally read it. Why? Because it looked all si-fi to me and I just kept putting off the read and back to the library it had to go.

When I finally sat down and read this I was surprised. Miller takes a really complicated plot line and somehow makes it pretty easy to follow. It was interesting and I just really enjoyed the read. This book crosses over genres. The girls who like the si-fi and fantasy would enjoy this book as much as girls like me who generally don't like the si-fi or fantasy. A clever standout 2013 debut for sure.

BOOK BLURB:

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

It has been awhile since I read this, but I remember it being a pretty clean read with a few swear words and talk of the existence of sex, but nothing more than kissing for our main character. Read more about it HERE.

STAYING WARM GIVAWAY: SIGNED COPY OF SARA ZARR'S HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

Giving away a SIGNED copy of Sara Zarr's amazing How to Save a Life. I'm picking this one because the cover makes me think cold thoughts, but when I think about the book I get warm fuzzies.

Thanks to Reading In Twilight and I Am A Reader Not A Writer for hosting this blog hop.



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LIFE IN OUTER SPACE: MELISSA KEIL

How to know if you might like this book:

1. You think geeky things are cool. Or you like to read about geeky cool boys.

2. You like Aussie books.

3. You like a good male POV.

4. You like when the "gay best friend" isn't the typical "gay best friend".

5. You love a romance built on friendship.

If any of those points appeal to you, you'll probably really enjoy Life in Outer Space. This book is pretty funny and clever...sometimes the cleverness made the read less easy and smooth for me. However, I am not sure if that is a bad thing. Anyway, I was charmed by our hero from the first few pages. Reminded me a bit of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, and Elenor & Park. Great last line BTW....

BOOK BLURB:

Sam Kinnison is a geek, and he’s totally fine with that. He has his horror movies, his nerdy friends, World of Warcraft – and until Princess Leia turns up in his bedroom, he doesn’t have to worry about girls.

Then Sam meets Camilla. She’s beautiful, friendly and completely irrelevant to his life. Sam is determined to ignore her, except that Camilla has a life of her own – and she’s decided that he’s going to be part of it.

Sam believes that everything he needs to know he can learn from the movies ... but now it looks like he’s been watching the wrong ones.

Read more about this book HERE.

DYSTOPIAN GIVEAWAY HOP: DIVERGENT

I'm admittedly not the biggest Dystopian book fan. I don't know, they kind of creep me out to be honest. They aren't all bad though...and I do have a nice paperback copy of Divergent sitting on my shelf that needs a good home. If you want that home to be yours...

Thanks to My Shelf Confessions and I am a Reader, Not a Writer for hosting this hop.

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UNEARTHLY SERIES: CYNTHIA HAND

I'm quite late on this series, but honestly I don't start most series books until they are all out. How else could I keep track of the details? I was surprised how much I like this. I found the whole thing interesting and endearing. I had some issues with the ending, but overall nothing worth ignoring the series for. Mostly I enjoyed how the plot developed and kept pulling me in with new and interesting tidbits along the way.

BOOK BLURB (BOOK ONE):

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

It is a pretty clean read with some swearing here and there. Also the swoony moments don't go too far. Read more about the first book HERE.

WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE: TRISH DOLLER

Although this wouldn't be one of my "drop everything and read this book!" kind of recommendations, I thought this was a solid read and enjoyed it. I was reading the ARC so hopefully some of the plot issues I had got worked out in the end, but either way this is still a strong character book.

What I loved most of all, and what kept me reading was how well Doller created characters that were NOT black and white. They were all complicated and that helped them ring true to me. While at the beginning you hate the mom who took her daughter away and didn't properly take care of her for 12 years, you still understand why said daughter still loves her mom and has complicated feelings for her very loving father. On top of that, no one in this book is perfect. Not dad, not step-mom, not hot guy, not new best friend, not mentally ill mother, and definitely not our main character.

BOOK BLURB:
Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the read. You can read more about it HERE.