Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Hardcover, 400 pages

Scholastics Incorporated

September 2009

Sparks are igniting.

Flames are spreading.

And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol--a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

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Where do I begin? This book had my attention just as much as Hunger Games did. There were times when I wanted to just smack Katniss and say "wake up! can't you see you do, deep down, love Peeta." (Trying to say this next part without spoilers) I did not see what they had in store the next Hunger Games coming at all. I have completely fallen for Peeta. I believe he is the true definition of a nice guy. Katniss can't do much better than him. Gale isn't in the story enough for me to get a real grasp of him.

I will admit I loved Hunger Games more but this was still a good book. I can not wait to tackle Mockingjay and see where the adventure continues. I only hope that Katniss wakes up and realizes all this wanting to be in Peeta's arms while she sleeps and the sparks she feels when she kisses him at times is not just because. She loves in!!!! That is what bugs me most about Katniss. She is so built up on not marrying and having kids she has blinded herself from seeing how much she truly has developed feelings for Peeta.

New Books are Fun(6)

Well in the last two weeks I have gotten 4 new books.

-Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

-Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

-Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

-Shadow of the Sun by Laura Kreitzer*

*Part of a book tour through the publishing company.

I can't wait to read them all. Actually I am about halfway or so through Catching Fire.

Follow Friday (7)

I haven't done a FF in a while but here it is this week

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

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2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - whatbookisthat.com
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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
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6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
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Happy Follow Friday!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Paperback, 384 pages

Scholastic

July 2010

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone 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 weight survival against humanity and life against love.

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This book had me from the first page to the last. I liked that it didn't just jump into the reaping or the Games instead it gave us a little history. I think what Katniss did was very brave. If I was in her place I don't know if I could have done the same knowing that there is a good chance I would not come back. Gale gave me the sense of a big brother out there to protect Katniss and her family. Now, he wasn't in the book for a great deal of it but that is what I perceived him as so far. Peeta now I absolutely love him. I wasn't like Katniss in the beginning of the Games I actually saw through what he doing and knew he was doing it for her safety.

Even though Katniss was against everyone else in there, their game tatics make you think "if you were to have to be in that arena and fight to the death what would you do to stay alive?" I am particularly fond that Haymitch told Katniss and Peeta not to reveal their strengths to everyone beforehand. I thought it was very smart. Well I can't go on without giving spoilers.

I absolutely can not wait to go and get Catching Fire and MockingJay to read and finish the series.

Torn between two Lovers....books.

Alrighty, I can't decide which book to read next. I have narrowed it down to either Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow, Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz or Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. So I thought I would get feedback and see which one comes out on top to read. Help me decide!

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Paperback, 326 pages

St. Martin's Press

August 2010

"Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you... no one."

Those were some of Rhode's last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lay in the sun. Taste. Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust.

I never expected to fall in love with someone else who wasn't Rhode. But Justin was... daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream. I never expected to be sixteen again... but then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me.

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I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book. But to be honest, I did end up liking this book. However, for me it had a very slow start. I felt like I had to force myself to keep reading. Once I got to about page 65 it began to draw me in but it didn't fully have my attention until about 100 pages into it.

I am not saying I hated or disliked the book. I did throughly enjoy it and will more than likely read the next book. Okay, I will read the next book. At first I thought it was going to be one chapter in present time and then one chapter going through her past with flashbacks. However, the flashbacks/memories started occurring in the middle of the chapter or in random places of the chapter and then go back to present time. That really bugged me. For me I didn't find her memories really that important until near the end of the book.

I loved how realistic high school clique's were in a way. When Lenah was being treated rudely or talked about behind her back by the "Three Piece" for me that was an accurate display of high school. However, how easily the "Three Piece" became her friends when she started dating Justin was a little fishy.

I really did enjoy how this was a unique vampire story. A story of a vampire being turned back into a human. Ultimately that is what caught my attention in wanting to read this book. Seeing Lenah's struggles for adapting to human life were very interesting and realistic too. I am glad Rebecca Maizel didn't just have Lenah all adapted to human life right away. She portrayed it in a sense that if this were real life this is how it would really happen.

One thing that has begun to bug me not just for this book but for most paranormal books is how when someone who is say a vampire tells a human that they are a vampire the human is all cool with it and acts like it is no big deal. When Lenah's friend Tony found out that she was a vampire he was all cool with it however, when it was revealed to Justin his reaction was more realistic.

I read the sneak peek at the end of the book for Stolen Nights and I must say I will definitely be getting that book to read the sneak peek was only the prologue and first chapter but it had me going "OMG."

Crescendo Book Trailer

ARE YOU AS EXCITED AS I AM FOR CRESCENDO BY BECCA FITZPATRICK? IT COMES OUT THIS MONTH!!!!

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude.

When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening—to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey — but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

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This was a delightfully, creepy book to read. I love reading before bed but there were times I had to put it down because I was creeping myself out (this could have to do with the combination of late at night, tired, and the book).

I didn't like the fact that the most intense part was at the end because it sort of felt unfinished and then they had a few months later type of ending. That really bugged me. I would have loved to see it end the way it did before the few months later and then have a sequel of some sort. I say it was kind of fairy-tale, cheesy ending with the few months later.

I did overall love this book though. I don't typically like paranormal ghost stories or ghost possessing type of stories but I absolutely loved this one, despite the ending.