If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Paperback, 259 pages

Penguin Group

April 2010

On a day that started like any other...

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has lefy--the most important decision she'll ever make.

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I went in to this book not knowing what to expect from it. After the first few pages of reading it I was hooked. I loved how this book didn't just take place with her watching her body but it did flashbacks and showed what she was thinking in her mind as she tried to decide if she wanted to stay or die.

This book brought me to tears a few times. Having her flashbacks and what was going on in the present tense really brought you closer to her and her family. So as she realizes what's going and what is happening you begin to feel the same sad feeling she does.

This was a really good book. Even though I hate cliffhanger endings I got to say I am glad the sequel comes out soon. But the way it was ended was a good way to have a cliffhanger. You don't know what she decides. Even though you don't know that the ending could be easily taken both ways. She chose to stay or she chose to die. It really makes you look at your life and wonder if you were in her state and whether you lived or died was in your hands what you would chose.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO THIS ONE ANSWER QUESTION:

If you were in the hospital having this out of body experience and if you lived or died was really your decision what would you chose? Why?

Katy Perry---Teenage Dream

*This will be one of the few reviews non book related that I post*

TEENAGE DREAM--Katy Perry

August 2010

Parental Advisory-Explicit Content

TRACKS:

1-Teenage Dream

2-Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)

3-California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg

4-Firework

5-Peacock

6-Circle the Drain

7-The One that Got Away

8-E.T.

9-Who Am I Living For?

10-Pearl

11-Hummingbird Heartbeat

12-Not Like The Movies

13-California Gurls (Passion Pit Remix)

14-Teenage Dream (Kaskade Club Mix)

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This is Katy's sophomore album and let me tell you if you loved One of the Boys you will LOVE this one.

First you have the cotton candy scented case--makes me want cotton candy.

Then you have the amazing songs.

I can't say just one song is my favorite I love this whole album. So instead according to Itunes since I bought this cd these are my top 5 played tracks on the album:

Circle the Drain--24 times

Teenage Dream--19 times

Last Friday Night(T.G.I.F)--19 times

Peacock--17 times

E.T.--16 times

I absolutely LOVE Katy Perry and this album just proves to me why I love her all over again. I hope she does a third single off the album and it is either E.T. or Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F). I would really love Circle the Drain but censoring it for the radio would ruin the effect of the song.

So I HIGHLY suggest you go out and get yourself the cotton candy scented album by Katy Perry.

Book Review of the Week(4)

Everyone can fill out thisFORM.

You can nominate either your book review or somebody else's review.

RULES:
All nominations must be turned in by midnight Friday night.
If you are nominating someone else's blog please inform them and suggest if they are not already following me that they follow me so that way they will know if their review was chosen.
Please do not nominate a book review that has already won. Be sure to check out the BRotW page for a list of all previous winners*THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE PERSON SIMPLY THE REVIEW DONE BY THE PERSON. IT CAN BE THE SAME REVIEW ANOTHER PERSON DID JUST NOT THE SAME REVIEW FROM THE SAME PERSON.
You must fill out thisFORM.
The winner will be chosen by random.org
It does not have to be a new book review. It can be one you read/wrote a while ago that you think deserves recognition.
------------------------------------------

Now on to this week's winner......

Savannah from Books with Bite and her review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: Out now

"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once...more Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

Have I been bitten by this book? Can someone give me a HELL YES! From the first glimpse of Katniss, I was hooked....TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

RULES OF ATTRACTION by Simone Elkeles

Hardcover, 336 pages

Walker & Company

April 2010

"Listen Chica-," Carlos says when we're driving to my mom's store.

"Don't call me that anymore," I tell him.

"What do you want me to call, then?"

I shrug, "Whatever. Just not chica."

Carlos holds his hands up. "What do you want from me? You want me to tell you lies? Okay. Kiara, without your I'm nothin'. Kiara, you own my heart and soul. Kiara, I love you. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes"

"No guy who actually says those things really means them."

"I bet your brother says them to Brittany and means them."

"That's because he's lost all common sense. I thought you were the one girl who didn't fall for my bullshit."

"I don't. Consider my wanting you as my real boyfriend as a lapse in judgment," I tell him. "But I'm over it."

If you loved Alex Fuentes wait until you meet his brother Carlos...

Carlos Fuentes idolized his older brother, Alex, when he was a member of the Latino Blood. So when Alex chose to get jumped out of the gang for a chance at a future with his gringa girlfriend, Brittany, Carlos felt shocked and betrayed. Even worse, Alex forced Carlos to come back from Mexico to join him on the straight and narrow path. Trouble is, Carlos just wants to keep living on the edge. And ties to his Mexican gang aren't easy to break, even hundreds of miles away in Colorado.

In Boulder, Carlos has to live with one of Alex's college professors-and he feels completely out of place. He'x even more thrown by his strong feelings for the professor's daughter, Kiara, who is nothing like the girls he's usually drawn to. But Carlos and Kiara soon discover that in the matters of the heart, the rules of attraction overpower the social difference that conspire to keep them apart.

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This book is so like Perfect Chemistry. It had me from first page to the last page. It may be about Alex's brother but, you still get Brittany and Alex in the story. I was so drawn into this story that I read it in one day and decided that being tired on less amount of sleep for the work the next day was worth it. This book just over took my mind. When I was at work all I thought about was Kiara and Carlos. I loved the little things they did.

This book is Perfect Chemistry all over again, BUT even better because you get the couple from Perfect Chemistry and a new couple. Carlos is so much like Alex whoever you pictured as Alex you may picture as Carlos to.

As you read this you can feel all the emotion they are experiencing. When there is tension you feel the tension. When they are caught up in the moment you feel like you are the one he is going kiss or "almost" kiss.

Even though it is so much like Perfect Chemistry it is also so much different from it. Kiara and Carlos aren't forced to face their attraction to each other in the same way Brittany and Alex were. Brittany was the rich, girly girl that Alex feel for. Whereas, Kiara, can be classified as tomboy and Carlos fell for her.

I can add the Fuentes brothers to my list of fictional characters I am attracted too.

I would love to see Simone Elkeles do a third book with either their younger brother Luis or having it fast forward to either couple being married with a kid of their own. I would love that. I know at the end of each book she does a 26 years later type of thing so I would love to see those continue into their own book.

coming this Tuesday is my 100+ follower Giveaway!

This past Follow Friday put me over 100 followers. So this Tuesday I will be posting my 100+ follower giveaway since I don't work that day. Be sure to keep your eyes open on Tuesday. Tell your friends but make sure they know it is a FOLLOWER only giveaway. So you must be following me. I will check. I'm going to have two different set(s) of prize(s) one will be international and one will be US only. So 2 people can win. Check back Tuesday to see what's up for grabs.

Follow Friday(5)

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://bookge3k.blogspot.com/
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If your new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Take Me There by Carolee Dean

Take Me There by Carolee Dean

Paperback, 336 pages

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

July 2010

ON THE RUN AND HEADED NOWHERE FAST

Dylan has a bad-boy past and a criminal record. He knows that rich, beautiful Jess is way too good for him-but she has always been the on person who sees through his tough exterior and straight to his heart, and he has been hopelessly in love with her from the first time they met. He would change his life for a chance with her.

But trouble follows Dylan wherever he goes, and a deadly mistake soon forces him to hit the road and leave his dreams behind. He's on the run and in search of answers-answers to questions he wished he'd never asked.

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When I started the book I was thinking "oohh a forbidden love story." After about 5 pages I found it would not be like any other lovey type story I have read before.

It took a bit for me to get use to each chapter changing from Dylan's journey to Texas to his life in California with Jess. I got to admit as I was reading it the parts about his and Jess' journey to love I could tell she liked him from the start.

It did get emotional towards the end and I HATED the ending. I really would have loved another ending. Something completely different. Although the epilogue made it seem as though there could be a sequel. I do hope so. I would love to read more about Dylan and Jess' life together.

New Thing I Am Adding to my Blog.

I have decided to add a page to my blog called the MUST-READS. What this will be is just a list of books that I think are really good. These books will be books I have read before I started this blog and as I go. I will have them sorted by Genre so it will be like:

Sci-Fi
Paranormal Forbidden Love

Forbidden Love

Paranormal

Teenage Drama

Mystery

It will be either my justification of genre or what borders.com has listed as the genre.

There will be two separate categories the YA and Adult as well.

I will not post this page until I have my list created-well started.

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine! It's like shining a spotlight on the book we can't wait for to be released.

This week I have chosen to share that I am waiting on

CRESCENDO by BECCA FITZPATRICK

Nora should have known her life was far from perfect. Despite starting a relationship with her guardian angel, Patch (who, title aside, can be described as anything but angelic), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking up. Patch is starting to pull away and Nora can't figure out if it's for her best interest or if his interest has shifted to her arch-enemy, Marcie Millar. Not to mention that Nora is haunted by images of her father and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to him that night he left for Portland and never came home.

The further Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, the more she comes to question if her Nephilim bloodline has something to do with it as well as why she seems to be in danger more than the average girl. Since Patch isn't answering her questions and seems to be standing in her way, she has to start finding the answers on her own. Relying too heavily on the fact that she has a guardian angel puts Nora at risk again and again. But can she really count on Patch or is he hiding secrets darker than she can even imagine?

Wanted by Sara Shepard(Pretty Little Liars#8)

WANTED by Sara Shepard

Hardcover, 272 Pages

HarperCollins Publishers

June 2010

In Rosewood, majestic estates sprawl for acres, and Tiffany toggle bracelets dangle from every girl's writs. But not all that glitters is gold, and the town harbors secrets darker than anyone could imagine--like the truth about what really happened the night Alison Dilaurentis went missing. . . .

Back in middle school, Ali plucked Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer from obscurity and turned them into beautiful, popular girls everyone wanted to be. Ali was the best friend they ever had. But she also made them do terrible things and taunted them with their worst secrets. Now, three years later, all their questions about Ali have finally been answered and they can put this awful chapter of their lives behind them. Or so they think.

Not every story has a happy ending, especially when four pretty little liars have done so many wicked things.

The truth hurts.

Even pretty little liars deserve a happy ending. . . but that doesn't mean they'll get it.

-A

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This book was indeed dramatic. The way everything comes together you will never see coming. To think that it was even a possible solution is not even going to get into your head. But the ending to this series is a SHOCKER. I hate the way it ends. I love this series and when I finished this book I HATED the ending.

Yes, the girls finally do get the answer to their one unanswered question: "Who killed Alison?"

Yes, the girls can finally live their lives and put everything behind them but why did Sara chose that ending? That is my question.

SPOILER PART

For those of you have read this book and got confused as to what really happened here it is in a less confusing way:

Courtney is Alison's identical twin sister

Courtney was pretending to be Alison when the girls first met her./

It was Courtney who the girls were friends with all this time.

It was Courtney who went missing.

It was Courtney who was killed.

AND

It was Alison who killed Courtney.

It was Alison who was the second A.

SPOILER ENDED

Even though I hated the way it ended I still thought it was a really good book. I was able to read this book in exactly 15 hours because of how hooked I was into it.

Confessions of a Bookaholic...

Confessions of a Bookaholic is giving away 3 signed copies of Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

I have been wanting this book. So if you want a chance at it as well

GO HERE

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Publisher: Dial (September 7th, 2010)

Reading Level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 400 pages

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory's magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she'll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe's ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn't been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

Confessions of a Bookaholic is also giving away a book by one of my FAVORITE authors Melinda Metz and it is a signed copy no less.

Echoes by Melinda metz is the book. Click here to find out more on the giveaway

Echoes by Melinda Metz- Giveaway

Echoes by Melinda Metz

Publisher: HarperCollins (July 27th, 2010)

Reading Level: Young Adult

Paperback: 517 pages

Can't believe she did that . . .
. . . at four-thirty I have to . . .
. . . I hate this place . . .
Rae Voight is losing her mind. When she walks down the halls of Sanderson Prep, she hears voices . . . even when no one is talking. Other people's thoughts crowd her head, a confusing tangle of insecurities and dark secrets. Just when Rae reaches her breaking point, one voice comes screaming through the din, loud and clear:
. . . Rae must die . . .
If Rae doesn't figure out who the thought belongs to soon, she could lose more than just her sanity.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

GO ASK ALICE by Anonymous

Paperback, 244 pages

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

December 2005

First edition publication date is March 1971

January 24th
After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs....

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth--and ultimately her life.

Read her diary.

Enter her world.

You will never forget her.

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WARNING THERE IS NO WAY TO WRITE THIS REVIEW WITHOUT REVEALING PARTS OF THE BOOK. I DON'T CALL THEM SPOILERS FOR THIS BOOK JUST BECAUSE I DON'T SEE THEM AS THAT.

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This book was a very emotional book. Now when I say emotional I don't necessarily mean you will be in tears, I mean you can feel the emotion of the girl writing the entries. From her first entry to her last you feel all her emotions. It could be, because you are essentially inside her mind with her diary.

This book will piss you off, make you happy, make you sad, make you depressed, and if you have ever lost a loved on you, you may even cry.

The girl goes from being hooked on drugs to sobering up. And then she gets hooked again and sobers up again. When she finally decided to sober up for the last time (at least mentioned in the book) she is constantly picked on by all "druggy" kids at her school. They keep telling her that she will be back. They went to all means to prove to her that she will be back. When I say they went to all means I mean she was babysitting when she received some chocolate covered peanuts. She thought these peanuts were from the parents of the kids she was watching. It turned out that they were laced with acid. She was then freaking out so bad because of the worms eating her(This happens after her grandparents die. The worms are maggots. She goes into a detailed gorey account of what she thinks happens to her grandparents after they are buried). She was then sent to a hospital because she tore off her skin and pulled out massive amounts of hair. You then find out that two druggy girls were the ones who gave her the laced peanuts and they told the cops she was trying to sell them drugs which landed her in a mental hospital.

That really pissed me off. I was furious at what those girls had done. This girl, writing the diary, had been sober for about 6 months and these two druggies decided to mess all that up.

I am going to a guess and assume that after she decided not keep a diary anymore she got hooked back on drugs again. I take this because the very last part of the book states that 3 weeks later her parents came home and found her dead because of an overdose.

Overall, if this wasn't so raunchy and explicit I could see it definitely turning into a reading requirement for graduating. I fully believe that every kid should read this book. It will really open your eyes up to what that world is like. I say this too even though it is a fictional version of this girls diary it is still true in some area's. One of the first pages has an editors note that tells you this:

"Go Ask Alice is based on the actual diary of a fifteen-year-old drug user. It is not a definitive statement on the middle-class, teenage drug world. It does not offer any solutions. It is, however, a highly personal and specific chronicle. As such, we hope it will provide insights into the increasingly complicated world in which we live. Names, dates, places and certain events have been changed in accordance with the wishes of those concerned."

I FULLY recommend this book to anyone to read.

Book Review of the Week(3)

Everyone can fill out this FORM.

You can nominate either your book review or somebody else's review.

RULES:

• All nominations must be turned in by midnight Friday night.
• If you are nominating someone else's blog please inform them and suggest if they are not already following me that they follow me so that way they will know if their review was chosen.
• Please do not nominate a book review that has already won. Be sure to check out the BRotW page for a list of all previous winners*THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE PERSON SIMPLY THE REVIEW DONE BY THE PERSON. IT CAN BE THE SAME REVIEW ANOTHER PERSON DID JUST NOT THE SAME REVIEW FROM THE SAME PERSON.
• You must fill out this FORM.
• The winner will be chosen by random.org
• It does not have to be a new book review. It can be one you read/wrote a while ago that you think deserves recognition.

------------------------------------------

NOW FOR THIS WEEKS WINNER......

Nominated by: Sharyla from Bookish Wonderland

SARAIJ from The View from Sari's World

and her review on

DRACULA IN LOVE by Karen Essex

Why did Sharyla nominate this review??:

"I think this is a great, honest review of a book that looks great. I think what really draws me to the review is that I would never think to pick up this type of book, but the review portrays it to be such a great book that I even entered a contest to win a free copy."

NOW FOR THE REVIEW:

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Dracula in Love. A must read for everyone

I am back! Well, I have been home for a week, but the pain has kept me from the computer. I tried last week to catch up with those of you who I follow, but the pain stopped me from commenting and fully participating in the blogging world. I am hopeful by the end of this week I will back to my normal self.

I did manage to finish a few books while recuperating. I have a small pile of books waiting to be reviewed, this being my favorite. Dracula in Love by Karen Essex was one of those surprise gems we reviewers find once in a great while. Books like this are why I take the time to review books, really it why I keep reading. So here it is dear Reader, my first review since my surgery.

Before I begin I must make it clear that I received this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. I found this title on Shelf Awareness and want to thank Karen Essex for sending it to me.

On the back of the book one review reads “if you read only one more vampire novel, let it be this one”. I say if you read only one more literary novel, let it be this one. Dracula in love is a masterpiece .Not only does it turn the classic tale on its head, at times it reads much better than the original. This is more than a love story, more than a vampire tale; it is a realistic look into the attitudes and social norms of Victorian.......TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

She is also having a giveaway for this book be sure to check that out as well

A bookish wonderland is holding a contest

To help draw in a crowd, and show appreciation for my current readers, I'm holding a contest!

The prize? A 25 dollar gift card to either Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble (winners choice). The time frame? 2 weeks. So the contest officially starts when I post this and will end on: Saturday, September 4. The rules?--TO SEE THE RULES CLICK HERE

Some updates.

Thought I would let everyone no I have changed my twitter name to be more associated with my blog. It use to be hott_mess_ and I know I entered a few giveaways under that name but now my twitter name is EndStoryNxtBook so those who may follow me on twitter no need to freak.

As I was doing this I also noticed I gained one whole follower on twitter and when I gain just one follower I like to look and see who it is I noticed a follower under that person. That follower was Sarabooks also known as Sara Shepard's twitter. The author of the Pretty Little Liars series. Being that she was listed second I thought I clicked on the people I was following so I went back through and re clicked but NOPE. I was on the right page. Needless to say I got a bit excited that Sara Shepard was no following my twitter account. I went to her page to make sure it was some fake Sara Shepard twitter but it was the verified account and she is only following like 412 people and has over 9,000 followers herself. So even though she is following over 400 people I still feel special. Thought I would do a screen cap of it too. LOL. I tend to be a fan girl at times.

Heartless by Sara Shepard(Pretty Little Liars #7)

Heartless by Sara Shepard

Paperback, 304 pages

HarperCollins Publishers
June 2010

Four gorgeous girls are telling very ugly stories.

First Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer claimed they found a dead body in the woods behind Spencer's house, only to have it vanish without a trace. Then, when the same woods went up in flames' they swore they saw someone who's supposed to be dead rise from the ashes. And even after all that, the pretty little liars are still playing with fire. Call me heartless, but it's about time someone shut these liars up for good. After all, nobody likes a girl who cries wolf--least of all me...

-A

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This book was not as intense as the other 3 before it. It kind had the speed of book 2 brought back. It was all four the girls stories taking place but yet they didn't seem to be going anywhere.

You do learn new things toward the whole case but it takes almost the whole book just build up to that. I was still able to read the book in a day but it truthfully felt a little boring up until the end.

I think the only thing that kept me going was wanting to know the truth.

The girls end up getting the nickname "Pretty Little Liars" by all of the world. I did enjoy how they finally tied in the series name to the stories. I am still left confused as to who really killed Ali, is the dead really Ali's, and who the hell is A. Yes, they claim at the end to have found the REAL killer and this person is the new A but I don't for one second believe it.

I guess now I will have to read the last and latest book in the series just to find out.