Friday Reads: The Reader's Lounge Book Club reads The Young Elites by Marie Lu!!

Hiya there guys!

Happy Friday! Just one more day till Halloween!! I hope you all have your costumes ready, some candy to hand out (and plenty to eat) or have plans to spend the day watching/reading some creepy movies/books!

I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with this month's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club! I was quite excited when the book I had voted for got chosen for October and also glad that once I read it I had the sequel readily available!

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had wanted to read The Young Elites since it was published last year because all my bloggy friends reviews were great but they also mentioned a bad cliffhanger, so I was determined to wait till the series was over to read it.

BUT that changed when it was chosen as October's book for my book club! I was excited because I had voted for it and also relieved because the sequel was coming out this month too. And boy am I glad of that! I will be reading The Rose Society ASAP because the ending for The Young Elites packs with the punch to the feels!! Cliffhanger alert!

Adelina is not your "usual" YA main character. She could be qualified more easily as a villain than a hero I guess, but she doesn't feel like an evil character, not purely and not one dimensionally either. Adelina was marked by the plage and has been shunned by everyone and mistreated by her father. It's no surprise that she finds herself fighting back in any way she can, and that her moral compass is more than a bit awry.

We meet a lot of morally grey characters. The Dagger Society members are fighting for themselves and their political agenda and also for the rest of the malfettos, even if they don't do it openly or fight for them all. Raffaele and Enzo are both leaders in their own way, with their own different powers and their own different ways to exert control and to wield power that was taken from them. Their relationship with Adelina is very interesting since both have different opinions of her and interact very differently.

There are three POVs in this book, Adelina in 1st person and Enzo and Teren in 3rd person. While this could have felt odd, it didn't, it adjusted quite well with how the story is Adelina's so that's why we follow her path more closely, and I love how we are privy to her mind's inner workings!

Teren is the main antagonist of our book, the High Inquisitor and that has dedicated his life to pursue, capture, torture and kill malfettos. He was also an extremely fascinating character, very creepy and disquieting with his extreme devotion to his cause and his self-hatred! And also his own quest for power.

I loved that the relationship between Adelina and her sister Violetta is so important in this book! They have a lot of love but also a lot of resentment between them, and despite Adelina always having felt second rate compared to her sister, she doesn't care what she has to do to keep her safe! Great to see how a familial relationship is as important or maybe even more than others like romantic ones in this book.

The book has a few lulls here and there while Adelina gets used to her new surroundings or gets trained and plans are made, but once the action picks up, this is a mind-blowing rollercoaster of powers used, fights, explosions, deaths, betrayals and more betrayals and more deaths!

And then you get to the epilogue that makes you even more excited and scared of what's to come in the next book! Very much deserved 4 stars to this one!



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Tell Me Tuesdays #29!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!


I almost forgot to post my Tell Me Tuesday post this week! I was so tired yesterday and then this morning I was so busy with the kitchen thing, I nearly forgot!!

Public Enemies by Ann Aguirre


In Book 2 of the Immortal Game trilogy, Edie must learn the rules of the game . . . and then play better than anyone else.

Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board.

Because of her boyfriend Kian's sacrifice, she's operating under the mysterious Harbinger's aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she's terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers--mercenary monsters committed to her destruction--she's not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months...unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can't bear to lose.

 Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

 Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.





Today I have a physical ARC that I got from the author's assistant and that might even count as my first ARC request ever, this one I'm only reading during the day because I fear how creepy the first book was and I think that Public Enemies will be even worse!

Then I've also started this month's book for the Reader's Lounge Book Club, and it's making me very happy I never got too serious about ballet! Oi!

And I'm also reading a 2016 ARC that I'm loving to pieces and that once I'm done I'll probably be pushing on every single one of you, but for now my lips are sealed!
  
So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!  

Friday Reads: Mini-Reviews for The Stars of Summer and Open Road Summer!!!

Hey there guys!

Happy Friday! I hope you had a good week and have some nice plans for this weekend! This is one of my longest weeks at work, since I work 3 to 10 pm shift from Mon-Thurs and then night shift on Friday and Sunday... So I kinda cannot wait till next Monday!

Today I have another pair of mini-reviews as my Friday Reads! One of them was June's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club (that I failed to read in time...) that will count towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge (since I can count 2014 debuts too) and as part of my 105 Challenge as a book that has been in my physical TBR pile since last year! The other one will also count towards the 105 Challenge as a Middle Grade read!

The Stars of Summer by Tara Dairman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another wonderful adventure for Gladys trying to navigate normalcy as a kid at camp, finding things in common with her parents and a few unexpected complications while she tries to find the best hot dog in New York!

Gladys now has friends and can cook at home, she also has a job as freelance critic, so things are looking up, right? But things aren't as simple as they'd seem! Her friends aren't friends with each other, all of them too different to really click, she gets invited to camp so she won't have all the cooking time she wanted this summer, and she gets a really odd assignment from her editor at the paper.

Time for a confession, I've never been to camp so I felt like I was vicariously living the experience with Gladys! I'm not big on directed activities and the like, so I'd be pissed if I had to give up a summer of enjoying my hobbies to go to camp. But I liked how Gladys gave it a try because it was her friend's camp and also tried to make the most of it by thinking of it as cover for her hot dog escapades.

My favourite part of the book has to be how Gladys spends more time with her parents while trying to complete her hot dog assignment and it ends up being more than just an excuse to complete her job and instead is a way to find common ground and a way to connect together as a family!

The kid author celebrity was an unexpected twist added and a way for Gladys to see her less endearing qualities magnified in someone else. It had a bit of a tongue-in-cheek feel with how he was characterized, but I love that we get to seem some more layers and not so much of a two dimensional character.

There's an awards night, a conspiracy solved, some friendships got challenged and came out stronger and at the end of the day Gladys decided that she needed to be honest with those she love more than anything else.

All the food talk in this book makes me hungry and now I want to sample some of the awesome hot dogs featured here, as well as reading more of Gladys' adventures, which I do hope we'll get!! More Gladys next summer please!!



Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Well, now this is the kind of contemporary that I love reading! The one that makes me feel everything, that makes me smile and laugh and cry my eyes out! Instant Emery Lord fan for sure here!

Proper review to come once I've stopped being overwhelmed with ALL THE FEELS!!

This book was June's book for my book club and had been in my TBR pile for many months, and my friend Becca from Reading Teen had pushed it to me MANY a time, and holy crow if she wasn't right!

Reagan is not an easy character to like. She was flawed and angry and bitter and had a thing for judging others in a way she hates to be judged that annoyed me quite a bit, but she felt real and raw and she grows so much throughout the book! Her best quality had to be her loyalty to Dee and how she always put her first, even when she was feeling selfish or underappreciated.

Dee is a great character, one that deals with her dream coming true and the difficulties that fame and fortune do bring with them. Papparazzi and lies that not only hurt her but those she loves. I loved how we see the inside of a tour and the real life behind all the glamour.

The best part of this book is the friendship, such a positive and supportive friendship between such different girls as Reagan and Dee. There's also a lovely romance with a great character such as Matt that manages to get under Reagan's skin and turn her upside down a bit!

A very much recommended book for lovers of contemporary books as well as those like myself that don't pick a contemporary as their first option. Give Reagan a chance, she'll show you that even when you want to shake her, she'll get better and grow!

FIVE stars and well deserved!



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Mark This Book Monday: Something Real by Heather Demetrios!!!

Hey there guys!

Happy Monday! I am quite excited for the new week because I'm getting a few days off finally, and also because I might be finally getting the news of WHEN I'm getting the keys for my apartment and even might be getting the keys proper!

I'm starting the week with a new Mark This Book Monday edition, and this week's is April's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club! And not only that, since I had bought the copy quite a while back from Book Outlet, it is also part of the 105 Challenge in the Books from the TBR pile category, and since it was released in 2014 and it was the author's debut book, it's also counted towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

Something Real by Heather Demetrios

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Something Real was April's book for my book club: The Reader's Lounge Book Club! I was so very excited when it was chosen because A) I already had a copy and B) I had already read and loved another book by Heather Dremetrios!

This is such a poignant and fantastic book and a debut to boot! It's the story of Chloe, a girl that grew up in front of the cameras (that was actually born on camera) in the family's reality show. Then the show ends for various reasons, one of them to do with Chloe, then known as Bonnie with a trademark, and she works hard at patching herself up and getting a normal life as a normal teenager, and then one day, the cameras are back.

This book is both entertaining and deep, makes you try and see things from all sides, but no matter what, I ended up on Chloe's side. I have never been a big fan of reality shows (I think the only one I really like is The Amazing Race, and I'm not entirely sure it qualifies 100% as a reality show, but I disgress!) and so I must confess to be predisposed to support Chloe on her opposition to losing her normal life.

Family dynamics are a huge part of this book, from Chloe's relationship with Benton and Lexie and the rest of her siblings, the relationship with her mother and the nearly non-existent with her father, to the Chloe's friends, to the entire crew of MetalReel and Chuck (whom I despised and wanted to Force-choke) with the family. And of course the non-familial relationships between Chloe and Patrick, and Benton and Mark.

There are so many characters in this book, but you won't feel like any of them are simply fillers, you'll find yourself getting to know them all a lil better here and there, and seeing quite much more to many of them of what they seemed at first. Character development was very much strong for most of the characters, and the way their relationships and dynamics grew and evolved was a joy to read.

Seeing the ugly behind the scenes side of reality TV was extremely interesting and very upsetting on occasions. Everything seemed like an opportunity to get more viewers and make more money and the people involved, the kids for f's sake!, they are just entities to be directed and used! Show must go on and everything is fair in show biz. It was sick how Chloe was blamed and manipulated to stay in front of the cameras, and how all her childhood was directed and shaped, and once she felt like she wanted out, she was blamed and shamed and judged every which way.

We get to see Chloe with her friends, and handling a crush as a normal girl, and then fighting as much as she can to keep her normal life separate and protected from the MetalReel showbiz, and I was really glad to see how her friends came through for her, so very happy to see such a positive friendship, with girls supporting each other, demanding honesty and offering protection and comfort and support. And even happier to see the relationship that developed between Patrick and Chloe, and how it did develop, with its starts and stops and all the wonderful moments!

I feel like I will continue to read anything and everything that Heather Demetrios writes, and I highly recommend for anyone and everyone to read this book, contemporary lover or not! Very much deserved 5 stars!!



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Friday Reads: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger!!

Finally! My second Friday Reads post is up!

This one is all about The Reader's Lounge Book Club's book for March! I love how I'm discovering some wonderful books through our monthly picks! Not that I wouldn't have read them otherwise but they've been moved to the front of the TBR pile and read, so that's great!

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The DUFF was chosen as March's book for my book club: The Reader's Lounge and since I already had a copy gifted by my friend Becca from Pivot Point Reviews, I was all set and ready!

I didn't start the book till this week and surprisingly enough (or maybe not...) I was completely hooked and ended up reading it in one night! I do suck at reading a book in installments it seems!

Bianca is your cynical, too jaded for her age but somewhat sensible teen, and boy did I identify with her... I was pretty much like that when I was 17 or 18 and I was the voice of reason for one of my excessively romantic friends. She's got two best friends that are quite different from her, a crush on the perfect boy and a rather complicated family dynamic.

It all start with Bianca being with her friends at a club, with them dancing and she fighting a headache (I liked dancing loads, so that was not something we have in common) and being approached by the biggest manwhore of the whole school that calls her a DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) which causes her to throw a drink on his face (I cheered!).

Bianca always felt like a very real and complicated teen (we are all bloody complicated as teens) and even though I obviously I didn't agree with all her actions, I could understand most of her motivations, even if I saw quite clearly what she didn't seem to manage to see, which means hindsight and some perspective works wonders.

I loved her friendship with Cassey and Jessica, and how they were all different and leveled each other up. I hated how Bianca kept herself so closed up with her friends and pretended she was alright all the time, but I surely can relate to that to an extent too. And despite their disagreements and whatever problems they had, they ended up talking things through and not resorting to simple name calling and catfight drama, which is a very positive example to show.

Every interaction between Bianca and Wesley had the potential to be hilarious, irritating and swoony all at the same time, and I really felt like like smacking Wesley for his continued use of the "Duffy" nickname even if it was quite clear that he wasn't trying to belittle Bianca at all by the use of it after a while. He seemed quite genuine and proved to be a good friend to her more than once, and I actually cheered when he defended Bianca from the "whore" accusations with a good punch.

It seemed rather funny that the guy that was the first to label her ended up being the other that also gave her the best kind of advice about labels of all sorts and the one that made Bianca realize that she is so much more than a DUFF, and that we are all labelled at some point and we all end up labelling others and almost always is because we want to feel better about ourselves by putting others down.

The family dynamics are very important in this one because Bianca's family life is not easy with her parents' issues and how they affect her. I loved that parents aren't perfect here in this book but aren't bad people just because it suits the story. They are not made the enemy, and are also made flawed people with redeeming qualities that are trying to do what they can and will not win a "parents of the year" award while they sort their issues but that do try to do the best they can once they're out of their own cave.

All in all, this was a deeper read that I was expecting at first, and although there were a few disturbing things for me, the main one having a 14 year old in a relationship that included sex with an 18 year old which I felt wasn't addressed as wrong well enough, it was full of positive messages for both teens and adults, because we all need the reminders about facing our problems, not lying to ourselves and accepting help from others, not labelling people and standing against those labels.

Very much well deserved 4 stars for this one!



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The Reader's Lounge Book Club February: The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark!

 Hello guys! This Thursday is a special kind of Thursday, because I'm having an extra review included since this month is shorter and I don't have enough days to get everything done!

I'm having the review for February's book for my book club, The Reader's Lounge Book Club and also an ARC that I got from NetGalley! Thank you so much Emma for being amazing!

Since it's an ARC it's also part of my 105 Challenge and part of my books for review category!

The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Boy Next Door was February's book for the Reader's Lounge (the book club I'm part of) and even though I started following pace, I ended up finishing it too fast because I needed to know what happened!

I found it a fun and quick read, that kept me turning the pages because I wanted to know when Gabe would finally get his shit together, and what was going on with Maddy's dad!

I absolutely adored everything that was about ice skating in this book, the training, the choosing of a new program with the choreography and the music. I've always loved watching ice skating (even if I cannot skate on ice or otherwise to save my life) and I know all the terms pretty well, so it was super easy to follow those parts of the book, and I feel I was as excited as Maddy to try for the triple Axel!

The relationship between Maddy and Gabe was alternatively sweet and frustrating for me. I liked that Maddy was proactive and knew what she wanted, but I really was irritated that Gabe kept on going on the secret thing and she went along with it. I was glad to have Gabe's POV because it kept me from wanting to punch him, because I could see how torn he was and how he thought he wasn't good enough for Maddy.

If the book would have only been about the skating and their relationship, it would have been enough, but then we had some added drama with Maddy's dad, and I feel like it was too much. It's also quite puzzling that give my line of work, I didn't guess what was going on at all!

What I really liked was that despite the drama and the hot and cold, both sounded like rather real teenagers, and I'm glad that the book was very sex positive, presented as something natural and showing how important consent and being sure about what you want is.

Not so in love with this one as I was with January's book, but very much worth the read for all the the ice skating bits! 3 to 3.5 stars to this one!




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Tell Me Tuesdays #26!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

 The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

Maddy Spier's been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls. How can she make him realize that they can be partners off the ice as well? Gabe’s relationship with Maddy is vital. He can’t imagine skating with anyone else, and together they have a real chance at gold–maybe even making it to the Olympics! So he’s decided to think of her as a sister. After all, family is forever, but he’s never dated anyone for more than two weeks. Then their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, and everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big break-up that Gabe has always feared?

 Pointe by Brandy Colbert

Theo is better now.

She's eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.

Donovan isn't talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn't do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she's been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.

 Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

In her New York Times bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut, Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all ages. Eragon-author Christopher Paolini calls them, "Some of the most interesting dragons I've read in fantasy."

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

The Boy Next Door is this month's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club and I've just read the first 10 chapters but so far I really like it! I'm loving all the ice skating terms and the ballet references! Pointe is this month's Alyssa Recommends book and again with all the ballet references it's got points with me already! This one is gonna be a tough book to read because of the topics. And Seraphina is historical fantasy with dragons, although slow but VERY fascinating!

So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

Mark This Book Monday: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson!!

Hello there!

A new week starts and this one is a very relaxed one for me, because after working the weekend, I'm only working today and tomorrow and then I'll have the rest of the week off! *dances*

I'm starting the week with a new Mark This Book Monday entry and this one is special, because it's the first book chosen for my new book club, The Readers Lounge, organized by the lovely Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover!

I was concerned that the book wouldn't arrive in time to read it before the end of the month, because the post over here has been insanely slow and it's still recovering from a massive backlog over Xmas, but it arrived in time and then I read it at night in one sitting, so problem solved! ;)

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Since You've Been Gone was chosen as the first book of the book club I'm part of, the Reading Lounge and even if I wasn't entirely too sure if I'd like it. But luckily it was exactly what I needed to fight my blue mood & distract me of my insomnia! I didn't stop reading till nearly 6 am and I was finished with the book!

Emily is our main character and she's a very shy girl, used to having her best friend Sloane taking the lead in everything and dragging her out of her shell. Once Sloane seems to simply up and disappear without a trace, Emily is lost and a bit paralized without her. And then a list sent by Sloane appears and pushes Emily to get out of her shell, her comfort zone and to make friends and rely on herself.

I really enjoyed seeing Emily grow during the summer, finding herself in situations she wouldn't have been before (even less without Sloane next to her) and sometimes losing her nerve before compliting a task but always trying and finding that she's capable of more than she thought she would.

I loved that Emily's family is around, even if they're peculiar and are quite distracted for most of the summer, her parents are there and I simply loved their theater tradition and laid back but not lax attitude. Emily's brother was a riot with his daredevil ways!

I also really liked that we got the flashback moments to when Emily and Sloane met and their interactions and going out, because that way we could really get a sense of their friendship and how much it meant for Emily. I feel the book would have been incomplete without them, not as easy to relate to Emily's sense of loss.

This book managed to make me smile, laugh and giggle loads of times, not only there were fun and witty dialogs but some of the situations were simply hilarious! And the most fun were always those that involved Emily completing a task from the list.

Emily grows, find new friends, makes mistakes, learns from them and by the end of the summer she can stand on her own two feet, doesn't need Sloane to go out and interact with people and discover what she likes or not, but she still wants to find her friend. And once she does, that friendship is stronger for that.

I loved that friendship was such a central theme to this book and that the message for the most part about friendships and interactions was positive, without name calling or slut-shaming or any other pitfalls about female friendships that I abhor in books (and in society in general).

One of those contemporaries that makes me want to read more of them and well deserving of 4 stars!



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