Waiting on Wednesday (21)

Hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Pub Date: 10.23.12

From goodreads.com: 

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.
She can't.
She used to think her problems were all in her head.

They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.

She’s wrong.

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?

Top Ten Tuesday (22)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week is a rewind week so I'm going to tackle my Fall TBR list.

1. For Darkness Shows the Stars - Diana Peterfreund
2. The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken
3. Entice - Jessica Shirvington
4. Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
5. The Name of the Star - Maureen Johnson
6. The City's Son - Tom Pollock
7. The Diviners - Libba Bray
8. Level 2 - Lenore Appelhans
9. Ten - Gretchen McNeil
10. Eve & Adam - Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Most of these are BEA books.  I haven't been doing that well with my BEA reading, so hopefully putting them on my Fall TBR list will fix that!

In My Mailbox (21)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

From publishers:

The Fire Chronicle - John Stephens

Eve & Adam - Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Thanks to Random House and Macmillian!

She's So Dead to Us - Kieran Scott

Title: She's So Dead to Us
Author: Kieran Scott
Pages: 278
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

From goodreads.com: Ally Ryan would rather be in Maryland. She would rather be anywhere, in fact, than Orchard Hill, site of her downfall. Well, not hers exactly—but when your father’s hedge fund goes south and all your friends lose their trust funds, things don’t look so sunny for you. Her mother moved her to Maryland to flee the shame, but now they’re moving back. Back to the country-club, new-car-every-year, my-family-came-over-on-the-Mayflower lifestyle that Ally has outgrown. One bright spot, however, is gorgeous, intense Jake Graydon. But it won’t be easy for the two of them to be together—not if his friends (her former friends) have anything to say about it. Is Ally ready to get thrown back into the drama of the life she left behind?

Before this series it had been a while since I had read a straight up contemporary without any quirky situations, just high school.  I'm super glad that it filled the Completely Contemp requirements for each year because I was starting to feel neglectful of 2010 & 2011.  She's So Dead to Us starts off with Ally coming back to her hometown after a few years in Maryland.  Her father made some bad investments for his friends (Ally's friends parents), so they left town, then he left them.  Ally's mom moves them back to Orchard Hill to try and reclaim their lives.  *  I was so reminded of The OC with this story, probably because of the parallels with Ally's dad and Jimmy Cooper.  Don't worry, Ally is much more likable than Marissa.  She meets the boy who moved into her old bedroom and sparks fly, but the Cresties (Ally's old friends, named for the crest they live on) are not all about forgiving and forgetting.

This book was just good high school drama.  The kids are rich kids, but not obnoxiously Gossip Girl rich.  The "norms" who Ally takes to hanging out with are kinda awesome.  (Especially Annie.  I love that in He's So Not Worth It you get to peek into Annie's Crestie log.  Hilarious!)  Jake is kind of a bonehead.  Not to a bad degree, but like I want to smack him in the head, call him an idiot, and point him in the right direction.  Eventually he gets it.

I also loved that in between the chapters there were notes from random girls at school.  Always really funny and nice to see the drama from an outside perspective.  I don't want to go too much into the 2nd and 3rd books, because I don't want to give anything away, but if you're looking for a solid high school relationship drama start this series ASAP!

Waiting on Wednesday (20)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

Pub. Date: 1.8.13

From goodreads.com: When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Top Ten Tuesday (21)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is

Top Ten Older Books You Don't Want People to Forget About

Okay, this week I'm going to do something a little different.  There are so many backlist books that I love, but I want to take a minute to appreciate where the YA genre was when I was actually the age of the intended reader.

When I was younger, YA was a never-ending landscape of series books.  You know, those ones that would come out like, once every month.  It all started pre-YA for me with the Baby-Sitter's Club (of course), The Bobbsey Twins, and Nancy Drew (The Secret at Solaire is still my favorite).  When I moved into the teen shelves of my library it was Fear Street, Sweet Valley, Nightmare Hall, Love Stories...the list was never ending.  I used to devour these books.  Every week I would go to the library and browse the shelves for new additions to my series and new series to start.  I would sit and read straight through them in a few hours.  The plot was never particularly complex, nor were the relationships within the books.  The main characters were usually not that likable.  (Who do you root for in the SVH books, really?  Everyone is the worst.)  Why did I even read these books again?  Most of the time you didn't even have to read them in order.  

On the same level as the series books were the series that either spun off from tv shows or from which tv shows were born.  I'm mostly talking about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels (which they recently repackaged) and the Roswell High books.  Just thinking about the Roswell books makes me want to go down to my basement and dig around to find them so I can reread the series right now, TBR list be damned.

To this day my basement is full of these books.  I just can't part with my old SVH books or BSC books.  I actually bought a bag full of Love Stories at my last library sale that are currently residing in the trunk of my little VM Beetle.  I bought that repackaging of the Buffy books, even though I still have the originals packed away somewhere.  Am I ever going to read them again?  Maybe not, but I'm a nostalgia whore.  I can't help it.  I can't forget these books that I read in my formative years.  YA has come light years from where it was then, but we should remember where it was because it really wasn't all that long ago.

In My Mailbox (20)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

Borrowed:

The Piper's Son - Melina Marchetta

A light week over here, but that's okay.  I haven't been reading as fast as usual so I need some time to catch up.  I can't wait to see what everyone else has gotten this week!

Top Ten Tuesday (20)

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Okay, apparently I'm the worst because I forgot to post this yesterday.  I blame lack of sleep and having some sort of semblance of a social life for once.  Oh well, here it is anyway.

This week's topic is

Top Ten Series I Haven't Finished

I think I'm only going to go with five this week.  I don't really like to start series' unless I have the ability and desire to finish them all at once.  If I start them without being able to finish I generally forget what has happened by the time the next book makes it's way to my hands and then I have to reread.

1. The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare

I powered through the first three very enjoyable books in this series, but then I needed to take a break and kind of escape from that world for a bit.  I haven't had the chance to get back to them yet.

2. The Wolves of Mercy Falls - Maggie Steifvater

I loved the first book in this series.  It was a different take on werewolf mythology.  I thought the second book, though, was just a whole lot of set up for the third.  I understand it was necessary, but it also didn't make for a great second installment.  I haven't made my way back to the third book yet, but I hope that it makes the second one worth it.

3. Bumped/Thumped - Megan McCafferty

I wanted to love Bumped.  I love Megan McCafferty's Jess Darling series and I had such high hopes for Bumped, but it just didn't work for me.  I haven't been able to face Thumped yet to see if it makes it any better in my eyes.

4. The Gallagher Girls series - Ally Carter

I meant to read the latest Gallagher Girl book when it came out, but it just slipped through the cracks.  

5. The Embrace series - Jessica Shirvington

I have no excuse here.  I really enjoyed the first book in this series.  I was DYING for the second one.  I got it at BEA and I still haven't read it.  I've been so slacking on my BEA reading, it's not even funny.  I've read exactly one book that I came home with so far.  I need to get to this one asap.

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

Hey everybody!  Hope you're all doing well.  I've been gone for the ENTIRE summer and I've missed a whole bunch.  It's been kind of unexpectedly busy over here, but I'm back now and ready to jump into a regular blogging schedule. (I hope!)

Bought:

Vixen - Jillian Larkin

Rift - Andrea Cremer

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone - Kat Rosenfield

The Girl in the Park - Mariah Fredericks

I went to another signing at Oblong Books last week.  It's a little bit of a drive, but I love that store.  The events (all two that I've been to so far) are always well organized, the staff is great, and I just love the feel of an independent bookstore.  Of course, these signings always result in my coming home with way more books that I need/have room for.

Bonus: 

Speechless - Hannah Harrington

After the signing, the staff at Oblong dragged out boxes of ARCs that they had and said that we could all go through them to see if we wanted anything.  I managed to snag a copy of Speechless, which I've been looking forward to reading ever since I saw the amazingly simple cover that the finished copies have.

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

On my nook:

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Peaches - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Variant - Robison Wells

Bought:

White Cat - Holly Black

Red Glove - Holly Black

Black Heart - Holly Black

Team Human - Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare

Okay, I was a crazy person this week.  I've been trying, pretty successfully, since Book Expo to not buy anything.  Then I found out about a freaking awesome signing going on not too far from me (an hour and a half is not that far, right?) at Oblong Books.  Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Sarah Rees Brennan?  Hell yes, I'm totally there.  I had an amazing time.  The staff of Oblong was awesome, doing a little YA book talk beforehand, a whole lot of raffles, and letting us line up in the store when it started raining.  It was great seeing Holly Black again and telling her (again) how much I love the Curseworkers books.  Sarah Rees Brennan and I talked about The Vampire Diaries for a little bit (which was so awesome!  And she is totally on Team Alcoholic Vampire Slayer with me.  Love it!)  It was also amazing to meet Cassandra Clare in a smallish setting and get to chat with her.