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"Waiting On" Wednesday (#115) Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

3/30/2016

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:

Girl in Pieces by
Expected publication: August 30th 2016 by Delacorte Press

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28439614-girl-in-pieces

From Goodreads: 

For fans of Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why, and All the Bright Places comes Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel about a girl who has lost everything—almost even herself.

    Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The thick glass of a mason jar cuts deep, and the pain washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.
   Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.
  A deeply moving portrait of a teenage girl on the verge of losing herself and the journey she must take to survive in her own skin, Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.


Why I'm Waiting:

This book looks heartbreaking.  I do love a contemporary book that makes me think. Plus it from a debut author, so that always has appeal.


"Waiting On" Wednesday (#114) Outward Blonde by Trish Cook

3/23/2016

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:

Outward Blonde by
Expected publication: June 21st 2016 by Adaptive Books

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25613435-outward-blonde

From Goodreads: 

Sixteen-year-old Lizzie Finkelstein is a hard-partying socialite who lives a charmed life with her mother in Manhattan. After a public drunken sexual escapade results in both an arrest and an embarrassing viral video online, Lizzie’s parents stage a late night intervention. Lizzie finds herself whisked away to Utah to learn a lesson or two about taking responsibility at Camp Smiley, a wilderness survival program for troubled kids.

Camp Smiley is a far cry from Lizzie’s high society life in New York. Without her stable of luxury hair/makeup items, her teacup Pomeranian, contact with the outside world or access to social media, Lizzie must face the harsh conditions of the outdoors. Grouped with troubled campers in which she’s certain she has nothing in common (except Jack, who’s pretty hot), Lizzie must now learn to dig her own toilet in the woods and build a fire by rubbing two sticks together before the camp will ever let her go back to her former existence. She has a choice: get with the program, or get out of there.


Why I'm Waiting:

I am really curious about the publisher, and this seems like a book I would enjoy so I am hoping to give them a chance with this book. Adaptive books is a new venture that is taking old movie scripts and purposing them for other media, books being one of those mediums.  I am really curious to see how this works.


Top Ten Tuesday (#127) (03/22/16) Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven't Talked About Enough

3/22/2016

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

Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven't Talked About Enough


I'm pretty vocal about my love of certain books/authors, such as my love of Sarah Dessen and Jason Reynolds. I will also go on and on about my love of some of the best books I've read in any given year.  However, there are some books that I have featured on some lists, but I just don't end up on these lists over and over.  Here are some of those books:


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8728403-amy-roger-s-epic-detour

I rate books as soon as I finish them. I always like to put down my first impression, before I let time or other outside influences affect how I feel about a book. I rarely go back and change my star rating on Goodreads.  The downside of that is that sometimes I over rate books and within a few months of reading a book that I've rated pretty high, I can't remember a darned thing about it.  Then there are those that I rate well and just stick with me where I can't get them out of my head and I probably should have rated them higher.  This was definitely one that should have been rated higher.  It was a story that hasn't left me since the moment I read it years ago.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1629601.The_Disreputable_History_of_Frankie_Landau_Banks

I know I've mentioned my love of E. Lockhart books in the past, but I've generally focused on the Ruby Oliver books. This one is pretty amazing though. I read it and never really mentioned it again, but I love it. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11518089-epic-fail

This book is hardly going to win any awards, but it's so adorable, sweet, cute, and innocent that it's stuck with me for years.  This is not great literature by any means, but it's readable and it made me happy. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4570679-going-too-far


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13572862-love-and-other-perishable-items



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7958702-not-that-kind-of-girl



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8492251-playing-hurt

Another book that I've mentioned a few times, but it's often hard to find lists where I can fit this book. I check ebooks out from the library a lot, and this book was one of the few that as soon as I finished reading it, I went out and bought it.  Something about this book worked for me, and it remained one of my favorites.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7963255-the-sky-is-everywhere

I used to mention this book more, but it's been a while.  I'll Give You the Sun gets much more love, and deservedly so, but this book is equally as beautiful and memorable.  I  read it years ago and the beauty in the writing and the story have stuck with me.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17235448-the-wrong-side-of-right

This is a relatively new book so I think that may be why I haven't included it on many lists or mentioned it much on this blog, but it easily made my Top 10 from last year list. As I mentioned in that post, there are so many books that get politics wrong, and this one just got it SO right. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21469068-i-ll-meet-you-there

This book really just touched me. It was so well written and while it also made my Top 10 from last year, I don't know that I've mentioned it in any of my other posts.  If you like contemporary fiction, I highly recommend this book.


"Waiting On" Wednesday (#113) Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton

3/16/2016

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:

Diplomatic Immunity by
Expected publication: September 6th 2016 by Balzer + Bray

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28512629-diplomatic-immunity

From Goodreads: 

Aspiring reporter Piper Baird decides to write a scathing exposé on the overprivileged students at an elite Washington, DC, school, only for her life to change when she begins to fall for the story's main subject, in this new realistic contemporary romance from Brodi Ashton, the author of the Everneath trilogy.

Raucous parties, privileged attitudes, underage drinking, and diplomatic immunity...it’s all part of student life on Embassy Row.

Piper Baird has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. So when she scores a scholarship to exclusive Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, she knows it’s her big opportunity. Chiswick offers the country’s most competitive prize for teen journalists—the Bennington scholarship—and winning will ensure her acceptance to one of the best schools in the country.

Piper isn’t at Chiswick for two days before she witnesses the intense competition in the journalism program—and the extreme privilege of the young and wealthy elite who attend her school. And Piper knows access to these untouchable students just might give her the edge she’ll need to blow the lid off life at the school in a scathing and unforgettable exposé worthy of the Bennington.

The key to the whole story lies with Rafael Amador, the son of the Spanish ambassador—and the boy at the center of the most explosive secrets and scandals on Embassy Row. Rafael is big trouble—and when he drops into her bedroom window one night, asking for help, it’s Piper’s chance to get the full scoop. But as they spend time together, Piper discovers that despite his dark streak, Rafael is smart, kind, funny, and gorgeous—and she might have real feelings for him. How can she break the story of a lifetime if it could destroy the boy she just might love?


Why I'm Waiting:

As a D.C. resident, I love reading books that are set in DC. A lot of them get it right, but so many get it wrong. I loved Brodi Ashton's Everneath series, so I have really high hopes for this book.

Top Ten Tuesday (#126) (03/15/16) Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

3/15/2016

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

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

When putting this list together, I realized that we never did a winter TBR which kind of makes me sad.  These are some of my favorite types of lists.  As always I am limiting this list to books that are published between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.  So those released between March 20th and June 19th.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22537367-summer-of-sloane
Expected publication: May 3rd 2016 by Disney-Hyperion

I love Hawaii. I had heard some great things and always thought it would be overrated, until I went. I've actually been there twice and each time was just awesome. Between the book taking place in Hawaii and the fact that it reminds me of one of my favorite books from long ago, I can't wait to read this book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25785597-the-last-boy-and-girl-in-the-world
Expected publication: April 26th 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

I've read pretty much everything Siobhan Vivian has written, so this book easily ends up on this list.  I love the description of this book, and it looks like it will be an awesome romance.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26074181-the-crown
Expected publication: May 3rd 2016 by HarperTeen  

Is this the last one? Please? I thought I was done with this series, but then another book came out, and then this one.  I have such a love hate relationship with this series that I just need it to be over. Even so, here it is on my spring TBR list.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27272506-the-glittering-court
Expected publication: April 5th 2016 by Razorbill 

I didn't read her last YA book, but I kind I want to give this book a chance. It seems like it will be pretty outside my comfort zone, but it's Richelle Mead, so it makes this list of books I plan to read this spring.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26109391-highly-illogical-behavior
Expected publication: May 10th 2016 by Dial Books  

I think John Corey Whaley is an amazing author, so I am expecting good things for this book. His books are often so funny and yet so touching, they make you have all the feels, and I hoping for the same from this story.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25663637-when-we-collided
Expected publication: April 5th 2016 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

 Emery Lord is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She has been writing some tremendous contemporary romance. At this point, any book she writes is going to end up on my must read list.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26795352-my-lady-jane
Expected publication: June 7th 2016 by HarperTeen

Confession, I'm not a big historical fiction fan, which is strange because I was a history major and I use to inhale historical romances. I still have a soft spot for Johanna Lindsey. That being said, this book is way out of my comfort zone, but I love these authors, so I am really looking forward to this book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25518205-lady-renegades
Expected publication: April 5th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

I am eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this fun series.  Rachel Hawkins is one of my favorite authors, so I am trusting that she will wrap this series up right.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27155350-the-inside-of-out
 Expected publication: May 31st 2016 by Dial Books

Another book that looks to be a bit outside my comfort zone.  Jenn Marie Thorne published on of my favorite books from last year, and I can't wait to see if this book is just as good.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17838528-the-unexpected-everything
Expected publication: May 3rd 2016 by Simon & Schuster

Whenever I get sad that Sarah Dessen only publishes a book every other year, I console myself that on those year Morgan Matson will have a book out to tide me over. She is a great contemporary writer, and I always look forward to what she puts out.


"Waiting On" Wednesday (#112) My Unscripted Life by Lauren Morrill

3/09/2016

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm picking:

My Unscripted Life by
Expected publication: October 11th 2016 by Delacorte Press

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28588005-my-unscripted-life

From Goodreads: 

Perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Smith and Huntley Fitzpatrick, you'll love this funny and sweet contemporary romance about a Southern girl ready for a ho-hum summer until she meets the boy of her dreams who happens to be an international pop star.Sometimes love stories go off script.

Another sultry Georgia summer is about to get a lot hotter. Dee Wilkie is still licking her wounds after getting rejected by the precollege fine arts program of her dreams. But if she’d gone away, she wouldn’t have been around to say yes to an unbelievable opportunity: working on the set of a movie filming in her small Southern town that just happens to be starring Milo Ritter, the famous pop star Dee (along with the rest of the world) has had a crush since eighth grade.

It’s not like Dee will be sharing any screen time with Milo—she’s just a lowly PA. And Milo is so disappointingly rude that Dee is eager to stay far away from him. Except after a few chance meetings, she begins to wonder if just maybe there’s a reason for his offensive attitude, and if there’s more to Milo than his good looks and above-it-all Hollywood pedigree. Can a relationship with a guy like Milo ever work out for a girl like Dee? Never say never. . . .


Why I'm Waiting:

I am such a sucker for this type of book. Contemporary romance is my favorite, and a celebrity dating a normal is like a bat signal to me. I am very much looking forward to this book.