CAPTURE BLOG HOP!(+GIVEAWAY!)

Hey, Friends! Welcome to my stop on the Capture blog hop! This is a blog hop for the release of Brina Courtney's new book, Capture! Not only this, but it is my first blog hop EVER! So exciting! Even more, this is going to be my first GIVEAWAY ever! And my first guest post on my blog ever! Yeah, today is a big day! So, let's get right to it, shall we?

For this blog hop, I asked Brina to write me a post about her inspiration for her books. Things that inspired her for everything - the plot, the character names, and anything else she deemed worthy of telling us. I know I always wonder about where these things come from - especially the character names. So, let's see what she's written for us, yes?

Under the Influence: A guest post by Brina Courtney

I wish I had some sort of elegant tale to tell about why I chose to start writing, or what makes me what to write. But really and honestly, there isn’t. I just love to write. I’ve always created characters in my own world, though most people call them pretend friends when you’re a child. I guess for me, letting my imagination run wild is easy.

Research has influenced this set of books most, due to the fact that many believe in cryptozoology, including myself. Lots and lots of time spent online and in the library help to develop Shay and her kind. But then there is music, always floating through the air like whispers on the wind. Music is what makes words flow on paper for me. I listen to mostly mellow artists like Adele and Sarah Bareillis.

I can’t say that any of the characters are like people I know, except for Shay. There’s a lot of me inside her. So much of my own internal monologue comes through in my writing. I have this kind of secret quirky side that she seems to adore. What can I say? I like a girl with a ‘tude! I’m all for a strong heroine someone who is a bit odd but likeable. I would like to think, just like myself.

The setting came to me just as Shay did, in the dark of night. Just a whisper of an idea. And the story unfolded much of the same. I’m lucky to have my imagination, and hopefully, if I’m lucky, the imagination of my readers goes with me.

Thank you for that post, Brina! I definitely understand what you're saying. Especially about Sara Bareillis - I love her! (This is where I randomly start singing a random lyrics from one of her songs . . .)

Now it's time for the GIVEAWAY! Yes, the moment I know you have all been waiting for. There will be TWO giveaways happening here. one for the entire blog hop, and one just for me. What can we win from the whole blog hop? We can win A $15 Amazon giftcard (INT) and two signed paperbacks of Reveal (not INT). For this giveaway, the winners will be chosen by comments! **BE SURE TO LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS TO CONTACT YOU IN YOUR COMMENT, PLEASE**

Now, for MY giveaway. I will be giving away ecopy of Reveal and an ecopy of Capture to one lucky winner! All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter! For any extra rules or anything, check my giveaway policy located in my POLICIES tab at the top of my blog. Now go ahead, enter!

You Are or You Aren't (+HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKEY!)

QUICK NOTE: Today is my brother's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! so, I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!!!!!!!! He's 21 this year, in case you were wondering.

 He is also the funniest goofball I know. So I hope he has a fabulous day. Love you, Mikey!! ;)

Okay, so before I review this book - Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian - I am going to give you some good news and some bad news. Ready?

Good news: I am now officially a fan of Siobhan Vivian. I CANNOT wait to read her newest book The List and absolutely love her as an author.

Bad news: This book wasn't all that amazing, in my opinion. And NOW I'll explain hy in my review . . .

Not That Kind of Girl is a nice book that actually makes a bunch of great points that I'm sure any femanist would adore. I loved everything that actually HAPPENED in this book. From Natalie - main character - doing all the wondergirl things she does to Natalie's relationship with Conner - sweet boy. I had no problem with the plot or storyline or anything of that nature. Which is why I would most definitely read another one of Siobhan's books; she has great ideas that make for great stories.

So why did I not like this book all that much? Well that's because, for some reason, this book did not hold my attention like most books do. I felt very disconnected from the book as I read it and it didn't really draw me in too much. While everything Natalie was saying and thinking and whatnot made perfect sense, and I understood it, it didn't amuse me as much as I expected it would. This was more of a book that I would have liked to skim through to get to the more amusing parts. Mostly the parts with Conner. Other than that, this book dragged for me.

Character rundown: Natalie. I didn't like Natalie. I respect her and her strong-willed ways, but, in general, I did not like her as a person. She was very stuck-up-ish and I cannot stand that in people, let alone book characters. Well, unless they are super attractive guys in books that make me laugh. Then it's okay, but that is beside the point. Now, as for Conner - AH CONNER. I felt like his character was somewhat sketchy. From Natalie's point of view we had a very specific image and opinion of him that drastically changed by the end of the book. Which is good, but not the best for establishing a fantastic character. I still love Conner, though. He was sweet and kind and just a regular boy. He wasn't a super extraordinary guy that we will never mee in reality, despite how much we all wish we could. And I liked that. A good change of scene for me in my reading world. (I still love all those impossible boys, I'm just saying Conner is great too.)

The ending. It was very happy-go-lucky, but I liked it. I didn't feel the urge to skim at all through the end of the book. A very good ending to a so-so book. To wrap this up, I wouldn't point girls away from reading this book because it really does make a lot of great femanine points. A good perspective on a bunch of girlie-high-school issues. BUT, I'm not going to boast that this book was amazing because I don't think it was. I LOVE the author, though. She thought up some amazing ideas for this book that just didn't work for me put together like they should have. I DO plan on reading more from her and I WILL.

All right, that's it, Friends! Thank you so much for reading my review, and be sure to come back around again tomorrow. I will be having a fun giveaway as part of a blog hop for a super great author named Brina Courtney. Plus, a guess post from her. MY FIRST GUEST POST EVER. Yeah, momentus event. Be there or be square. And by "there" I clearly mean "here." Oh, and later in the week I have a review of Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally coming up. You will want to read that since the book is rocking my world at this moment (Friday night).

Come again soon, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

In My Mailbox! (2)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren where WE (the bloggers) tell YOU (the awesome people who visit our blogs) about the books we've recieved this week.

This week, I got some very nice book-things! So, let me tell you about them, shall we?

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

I am SO excited to read this book, and I thank Justin from Justin's Book Blog for sending it to me! (I won it in a giveaway!)

FOR REVIEW:

Redheads are Soulless by Heather M White. I am SO excited to read this book! Y'all will be hearing about this around the end of May, and I'm in the blog tour for this book. My stop will be in the beginning of June. I'll let you know more about this as we get closer. :)

This is where I go EEEEEK! because I get to review this book! Intangible by J. Meyers. I am so unbelievably happy about this!

By some insane twist of fate, I got lucky enough to get a copy of this to review for the blog tour for this book - Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. This tour will happen in June as well, and I'll let you know more later on this too!

Yeah, this week was supremely lucky for me regarding review requests. Exiled by M.R. Merrick.

BORROWED:

The cover of this book is so stunning. I just want to stare at it. Thank you SO SO SO SO much to Monica from Cover Analysis :) for letting me borrow Passion by Lauren Kate. I really picked the right person to give a best friend badge to. :)

PURCHASED:

Now this is the moment where I start hopping up and down in my seat in excitement. I have REALLY, really, REALLY wanted to read this book for a while. I thought I'd never get to read it. But then Veronica Rossi came to Austin with Tahereh Mafi and I went to see them, so I got to get a signed copy of Under the Never Sky that I can now read and keep forever. YAY! I can't wait to get to this book on my TBR list!

(For the record, I most likely will not have a purchased category in all of my IMMs. I do not get to purchase books that often - what can I say; I'm poor. Then again, who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky. I suppose we'll see.) You can all see my post about this book signing bu going to my Blog Archive in my cute little side bar and clicking on the April post titled "Spring Into the Future!"

Okay, that's it for me and my wonderful book-recieving happiness for this week. Thank you all for checking it out! If you'd like, you can always leave links to yours and I'll try to (most likely I will - I have no life) check your IMM out. Be sure to visit the blog again soon! And by soon I mean tomorrow for my review of Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian. And then agian on Tuesday for my stop on Brina Courtney's BLOG HOP! Yeah, great things happening this week.

All right, Friends. Keep safe until next post!

♥Jessica(:

BRAVO!

Oh. My. Gosh. I finished Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg the other day, and now I'm going to review it. Which pretty much means that I'm going to gush to you all about how awesome it is and how you HAVE to read it because this. book. was. AMAZING. But, I'll explain all the details throughout this post. First, I want to mention (in case you didn't see the post I made about this) that I got this book at a book signing last Monday. April 17th. Which means my copy is signed. Which makes me so incredibly happy. Thank you, Elizabeth!

All right, so the book. Where do I start? The book as a whole was really good. The beginning was a very good opening, and it really set the setting for what we were going to see the characters go through within the story. Then we moved on to the actual story - senior year. I was actually kind of surprised that this book actually covered all of senior year because the book is so small. That actually made me a little sad once I really got into the book - how short the book seemed to be. I mean, how can you pack a whole school year into less than 300 pages? But, oh did Elizabeth do it perfectly. She highlighted the important aspects for our characters and did not add anything boring. That means that this whole book held my attention. From beginning to end. Seriously, I did not want to let go of this book for a second.

Okay, quick rundown of the characters. I loved every single character in this book. The way they all intertwined to create this beautiful story astounded me. First, we have Carter. (I'm going in the order that they're introduced.) AH, CARTER. I latched onto Carter from the very beginning. He is the child star who realizes that he isn't really doing anything he wants to do. So then he changes this. I admire his determination to make life what he wants it to be along with his jump into making true friends. A wonderful character, that boy. Next is Sophie. I DID like Sophie. But not in the way I like characters I love. I liked Sophie because of her role in everything that happens with all the other characters in this book. She is an essential factor on a lot of the happenings within the story, and I acknowledge that. Sophie is the character we all love to hate. Huge snob, horrible "friend," even worse girlfriend, and all around conceited witch-with-a-b. But her role in the story is prominent, so since I love the story so much, I accept her as a character.

Oh, now we have Ethan! OH, ETHAN. My first impression of Ethan was very optimistic. His audition to get into PCA made me see the vulnerability inside of him which led to a soft spot in my heart just for this gifted, wonderful boy. But then we find out some things about Ethan - things that Ethan did in the past - that are not flattering at all. Which tainted him a little, but once I decide to love a guy i a book . . . well I just can't go back. Plus, Ethan was not a total lost cause. But you will witness this yourself when you READ this stunning book. My point about Ethan: he is an incredible boy, fundamental character within this novel, and blindingly adorable. I truly adore him. He was so protective and kind and I always eat that up. Okay, last, but certainly not least, we have Emme. I LOVE Emme. Yes, me, who didn't even like Tris in Divergent, LOVES Emme Connelly in Take a Bow. She is such a bautiful character, inside and out. she has a huge heart and is so selfless it might be hard to believe if I didn't read about it myself. Emme is the kind of girl most of us strive to be and that leads me to really like her. Plus, she has serious talent which cannot be ignored - not by me, not by anyone. Emme is just one of my favorite female leads I've read about in a long while.

One of the aspects of this book that drew me in so much was the relationships. And by relationships I mean friendships. Emme and Ethan and Jack and Ben are the kind of friends that we all wish we had. Or at least I do. (If you are my friend and reading this, I suggest you read this book and see what I mean - I am NOT saying anything bad about you.) This is such a loyal group of friends that it tugged at my heart to part with them at the end of the book. They made me laugh, they made me clap, they made me want to slap somebody, and they made me happy. Especially Jack. HE was one hilarious fellow. My point here: the ties between this group of friends is so strong and lovable, it adds so much more WOW to this book.

All in all, this book has everything we can ask for. Amazing characters. A plot that holds our attention. Enviable friendships. Addicting relationships (I can't even explain this without a whole big spoiler leaking out of me, so I'm leaving it there). Humor. Just the right amount of frustration. The most perfect contemporary page turner I've opened in a long time.

Oh, it's moments like this that I wish that I still rated books on my blog. I'd give Elizabeth a BUNCH of pretty gold stars at this wonderfully entrancing story and then some. Then again, that's what Goodreads is for ;) If you ever want to see my ratings of books, Friends, you can most definitely add me on there. As long as you respect books, you are my friend there as well.

A quick comment on the ending: JUST RIGHT. I was sad the story ended, but the way it left us was in just the right way. I wouldn't change a thing. So now I suggest that EVRYONE I EVER TALK TO/MEET/PASS BY ON THE STREET read this book. It is stunning and beautiful and just so utterly great I cannot even express it via computer screen. I wish I could gush to you all in person so you could see my elation from this book in person. Sadly, I cannot. Still, read this book. I will respect you forever if you take this advice from me.

Quick message to Elizabeth: I love you. This book made me SO happy! I'm so glad I got to meet you and I can't wait to meet you again! I've read The Lonely Hearts Club, but this book tops even that. Ah, I cannot wait for your next book. Sometime between now and then I MUST get my hands on a copy of Prom & Prejudice. You now have an honorary spot on my favorite authors list. Okay, I'm done gushing now. We van move on . . . (THANK YOU SO MUCH!)

All righty, Friends. Thank you so much for reading my review! and keep your eyes out for more posts from me. I have some nice things coming up next month that you'll certainly want to see and an In My Mailbox set to post tomorrow if you didn't see it over in my pretty little left sidebar.

Visit again soon, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Spring Into the Future!

All right, so I just KNOW youa re all wondering if I ever do anything, you know, FUN. And that answer would most of the time be NO. I pretty much have no life. I just sit around like a lazy little bum and read. But today, well it'll be yesterday by the time I post this, but TODAY I went to another fabulous book signing. And I had a wonderful time AGAIN!

This time there were two authors whom you may have heard of before? If you haven't, then . . . um. We're just going to imagine that we all know who these authors are, okay? It's in everyone's best interest. (HINT HINT: if you do NOT know who these authors are, get familiar with them, like, NOW. You will not regret it, I promise. Some amazing people right here.) All right, so I am going to tell you now because you're all probably screaming at me, but not really at me because it would be your computer screen which makes you look funny and me feel victorious because that would make me awesome enough to inflict this kind of emotion and . . . yeah, I'll move on.

I saw Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tahereh is the stunning person who wrote Shatter Me and is releasing the sequel, Unravel Me, next year. (ANOTHER HINT: that's around my birthday - February - so, you know, if anyone wants to be an awesome person . . . well, you know what to get me next year.) If you want to see my review of Shatter Me, you can click on the review section of my blog and it'll be listed there! This was one of the first books I reviewed on my blog and it was a captivating one, let me tell you. :)

Veronica is the amazing person who wrote a little book called Under the Never Sky. So you've heard of it? GOOD! I have not read it yet, but I DO now have a lovely signed copy now that I'll be reading as soon as I possibly can. And then y'all (I SAID Y'ALL!) will be able to see what I think of this book. Which I have an amazing feeling about. Just saying. I mean, seriously. There's a character named Roar! How can anyone pass that up?

Now, on to the actual SIGNING. I am sad to say that I got there late on account of horrible traffic, but I like to think I didn't miss much. I was there before questions began to be asked, so I think all was well. I am rpoud to say that I asked three - count 'em, THREE - questions. I'm not going to directly say what they were or what the answers were because I'm a lazy person and don't feel like typing all of that up. Plus, the answers were kind of long and that REALLY turns me away from typing it all up. The answers are forever archived in my memory, though.

So, what did I learn at this book signing? Well, I learned that Veronica Rossi likes to name her characters after wine. And Tahereh LOVES the fact that being an author is a profession that is pants-optional. Actually, both Veronica and Tahereh seemed to really like that aspect of their careers. Until today, I did not know that Veronica was an artist. Honestly, all I really knew about her before today was that she wrote a book that a lot of people were saying only the best things about. Naturally, I had to read this book. And now I own it! I'd say that is a win for me. Plus, Veronica (along with Tahereh) was extremely nice. Which is always good because it makes me more comfortable and makes me love certain authors that much more.

And Tahereh. I did NOT get her book signed because I had already read Shatter Me by checking it out from my library, and we all know that I am not exactly the most wealthy person. Therefore, I bought the book I haven't read yet and opted to just talk to Tahereh real quick about her wonderful book. And she was amazingly nice as well! We talked for a minute about Twitter. Because Twitter is great. It really is. Since I knew I was going to go to this event, I had been talking to both of the authors before on Twitter because that way they'd know I was coming! What can I say? I really like to be remembered. What is the point of this long rant? Tahereh signed a coffee collar for me! That was so kind! She really didn't have to do that, nor was I expecting it. I had alreayd loved her, but she just raised my love for her, like, ten notches.

So now I have personally signed things from both Veronica and Tahereh. This makes a SUPER GREAT day, in my opinion. I even got a gorgeous bookmarkfrom Veronica! If either of you are reading this, I LOVE YOU BOTH! Thank you both so oh very much! I'm so sorry I was late, but I'm glad I was there! I cannot wait to see you both again! (Not in a stalker way, but in an I-love-you way, which should be comforting.) Hugs for you both!

OH! And befoer I forget, they both loved how people from Texas say "y'all." Which is a nice little coincidence, because if you haven't noticed, I say y'all ALL THE TIME. Seriously, all the time. In my posts, in real life, all the time. It drives my mom crazy. She is not a fan of that word. But I love it! And I'm not even from Texas. Still, I've been saying it all my life. Maybe I was meant to move to Texas and always knew it subconciously but never realized it because . . . yeah, writing idea right there. JOTTED DOWN. ;)

And Tahereh -  I am not listening to "Let it Be" on repeat, thanks to you! Only I would store the little memory of you singing "words of wisdom" quickly under you breath when you told us to let it be. Now the song does not want to leave my brain. Eh, I still love you, so it's okay.

All right, this post is getting kind of long now, so I'll let you all go! Be sure to visit again tomorrow to see my review of Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg! Such a wonderful book. And then I have other big things coming next week!

Thank y'all for reading my post and visiting my blog! Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Immortal City

I finished Immortal City by Scott Speer! All in all, my ideas about this book are very intermixed. I loved some things, and other things were kind of meh. All in all, I liked it. I'm so happy I got to read it. I was so excited to read this when I got the book. I really liked the idea of Angels saving for money instead of because they were divine and perfect. There's nothing WRONG with that, exactly, it's just something we see everywhere these days. It was nice to see a different variation of an angel story.

While there were different aspects in this story, there was also the big, main romance aspect that we see in every angel story - angel falls in love with human, superiors get upset, and BOOM - trouble. Despite this cliche, this book held my attention, so I don't hold much against this book. Plus, there was a nice little mystery intermixed within the normal love story that livened things up a bit. Throughout the story, we are making assumptions as to just who the killer - yep, there's a killer - could be. And I think we are all wrong in our guesses. I know I was. I love when that happens; it adds suspense.

Character rundown! We have Maddy and Jacks. Maddy is the poor (like, literally poor) human girl who is positively boring until she meets a certain angel boy whom we will all know and love very soon. I loved Maddy. As we all know, the girl leads are usually hard sells for me, because. . . well, I'm not even sure why. But I really liked Maddy. I think it's because I can identify with her. She smart, determined, and shy to certain situations, but stands her ground when she's utterly serious. She's not just some love-struck girl doing stupid things for a guy. She does what she thinks is best, and I respect that. As for Jacks. . . OH JACKS. Jacks is the Angel guy every girl wants but can't have. Strong. Gorgeous. History in the making. And then he meets our girl Maddy and just can't stop thinking about her. Of course he can't. That's the way it goes with these things. But that's a point for later. Right now the point is that I loved Jacks, too. The guy characters usually win me over twenty time faster. I can't help it. There is always at least one guy in a book that I adamantly root for. Well, this would be Jacks.

Romance. The romance in this book is oh so clearly THERE. It is a very common story of love, though. They meet. Can't stop thinking about each other after some moment of undeniable connection. See each other against the wishes of superiors. Etc, etc. We can all pretty much guess how the love story in this book goes, but it is definitely not worth NOT reading this book for. We should all still read it because there ARE the super sweet moments in here that just make you go "awwwww!" Plus, the plot is very, very good. The love story is predictable, but everything else is certainly NOT.

One aspect of this book that I especially liked was how . . . Angel-fied this book was. The world in this book was like our own, but instead of people obsessing over celebrities, they obsessed over Angels. This doesn't sound like much, but some of it was funny. For example, instead of "YouTube" there was "SaveTube." When I saw that one, I laughed for a bit. It was funny! If you don't understand why it's called "SaveTube," then I suggest you go on and read this book. Can't be wondering about this question forever, right? ;)

The ending. Okay, so when I was getting close to the ending of this book, I was getting supremely disppointed. But then my hopes lifted. And then they were crushed again, but not as much as they would have been the first time. But then I was like "YAY!" So my point here is: Do not give up on this book. Don't read ahead, either. It will ruin the sweetness of certain moments. Anyways, don't give up on this book around the end. Just keep your hopes up and finish the book in sequence. You will not regret this. The very end of the book was absolutley perfect for setting us up for a sequel. Now I just have to wait for it.      *head desk*

My note to anyone who reads this: This story is the same, but different. Which is a good thing. So read the book! I liked it. I really did. And now I get to keep it! *happiness*

Thank y'all for reading my review!

♥Jessica(:

COVER REVEAL! - Redheads are Soulless

I'm doing my first cover reveal EVER! Yay! And I'm so glad it's for this book - Redheads are Soulless by Heather M White. Heather is so nice and this book looks so good! So, before we take a look at this fabulous cover, why don't we see a bittle about what the book's about?

High School senior, Sofia Black, has had a very hard life. Since her father's death 7 years ago, she has had to look after her drug addicted, alcoholic mother. School isn't any better for her either. The other kids constantly tease, and ridicule her. All she wants is to get out of her small hometown in Alabama.


When new student, Jason, shows up, Sofia's world is turned upside down. She doesn't understand why he wants to befriend her so badly... And, just when she thinks she can trust him, trouble appears.


Jason's twin brother, Robbie, moves into town, and things go haywire. Sofia is now running for her life - and Jason is forced to share hidden secrets with her. She learns the truth about her father's death, and finds out that she may not be as "human" as she once thought. She struggles to accept her fate, while fighting for her life.

Um, yeah. Am I the only one who SERIOUSLY wants to find out what happens? This book looks so enthralling! (I really like the word "enthralling" - glad I got the perfect chance to use it!)

All right. Now it's time to show y'all this beautiful cover created by Heather over at SupaGirl Books.

Is this cover posititvely lovely or what? Honestly, I'd love to have covers this beautiful populating my book shelves. I love the deep red hair color! Awesome job, Heather!

Okay, so now you want to read this book. And you want to check out the amazing author who wrote a book awesome enough to inspire such a glamorous cover.

Well, to visit Heather M White's blog, click HERE!

And to add this book on Goodreads (because we all know I already have!), click HERE!

Thank y'all for checking out this cover reveal! We can all collectively be excited for this book now. EEEKK!!!! :)

Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Teaser Tuesday! (3)

Happy Tuesday, everybody! Since it's Tuesday, that means it's time for me to tease all of you - along with myself - with a couple of sentences from the book I am currently reading. A . . . "teaser," if you will. ;)

Do you want to participate in Teaser Tuesdays? It's simple and hosted by MizB from Should Be Reading. All you have to do is:

-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
-BE CAREFUL NOT T INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that the other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

As we all know, I'm currently reading Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg. I am SERIOUSLY loving this book right now. (NOTE: I've finished the book since the time I made this post, but TRUST ME - it was an amazing book. Amazing review to accompany it coming sometime toawrd the END of this week!) So, here it goes!

"He sets down the oversize gift and already know it's too much. I start to tear away the wrapping, to find a cardboard box with no markings." ~pg. 208, Take a Bow, Elizabeth Eulberg

AH! It is moments like this that I wonder why I even DO Teaser Tuesdays. So much of a tease for me! 

Thanks for checking out my teaser, and if you want you can leave links or whatever to your own teasers, so I can tease myself even more today. That would be cool. My to-read list on Goodreads is kind of thinning out. (Not really, but still.) If not, that's fine too. Thank you for reading my teaser!

Visit again soon, Friends! 

♥Jessica(:

It Only Happens Once

All right, so today I'm reviewing a book a little different from the ones I usually tell y'all about. This book is called The Virgin Diares and it was compiled and editied by Kimberly A. Johnson and Ann Werner. (I am aware that you can see this on the cover, but still.) I want to make a few things clear before I tell you my thoughts on this book. First is that this book is NOT a whole bunch of sex scenes thrown together into some inappropriate piece of literature. Second is that this book IS age appropriate for me. The title seems decieving, but once you find out what the book is really about, and why it was written, all should be well.

The Virgin Diaries is a bunch of stories - 72, to be exact - of many different people's first time having sex. Losing their virginity. Which would explain the title. But that's not all. This brings me back to my point where I said that this book was not "a whole bunch of sex scenes thrown together." The people telling their stories explain about their views on sex before and after, what it was like - emotionally as well as physically - what their relationships with the other people are like now, and they give advice to virgins about when THEY (the readers) have their first times.

This book is aimed toward virgins and teenagers. Mostly teenagers. Honestly, when I was sent a request to review this book, I was VERY hesitant to accept. But then as I looked more in to this book, I really began to like the concept. I'm actually really glad I chose to review this book. It is a great source of information for virgins, especially those who are very confused and curious about sex.

Let's all be honest - most parents don't address the topic of sex all that well with their children. The most advice a parent will give their child would be to use protection. They usually don't go into much more detail than that. I'm not saying that this is how it is for ALL parents and their children, just a majority as far as I can tell. The Virgin Diaries is a very good book for giving more information to virgins so that they aren't wholly unprepared when they think they're ready to give up their virginity. No, this book does not answer every single question anyone could ever ask about sex. I don't think it's possible to do that until you experience it for yourself. But it DOES give you a better idea of what to expect and how to tell when it's the right time for you.

Something I really liked about this book was how all the stories were written by the person who experienced what happened. And by this I mean that there were so many different voices behind all of the stories and I loved that. Instead of the authors of this book writing about what the people said their first times were like, the people who experienced it told their own stories. This way, we don't have one person telling us secondhand what it seemed to be like for someone else, we have the story directly from that person. A story told in their own words, in their own way.

Another thing that I liked about this book was the emotion in the stories. This probably is directly connected to the fact that these stories were written firsthand by the people who experienced them. I loved how the men and women described their emotions. Some of the stories were sad. Like, seriously, "awwww!" Others were funny. Others were just plain awkward. Some were sweet. Some were frustrating. But they were all REAL, and that is the most important part in my eyes.

A valuable thing - to me, anyway - about this book was the fact that there were stories from both men AND women. This means you get to read what it was like for both genders. I think this was beneficial because what girl doesn't ever wonder what's going on in a guy's head? Guys think girls are mysteries, but they can be just as confusing to us as we are to them. So I really liked reading about how the guys felt and what they thought. It was helpful insight into the way guys can think.

No, this book is not a thrill-ride fictional tale that is exciting to read. Of course it's not; it's non-fiction. Still, this book is immensely interesting because it gives you access to information that most people are too shy to ask for and too shy to share. I would DEFINITELY recommend this book to . . . well, anyone. This is the kind of book that is so informative that it could be nice for anyone to pick up and read. It will hold your attention because this topic is something that everyone is always curious about.

Okay, so that's all I have to say about this book. I STRONGLY suggest that you, as my wonderful blog reader, take a look at the book for yourself. On that note, The Virgin Diaries will be free - yes, FREE - for Kindle on April 26th. Yes, that is THIS THURSDAY. This is the perfect opportunity to see what I am such a strong advocate for today. You can get it for FREE - as in, no money necessary; this is usually a HUGE selling point for me - for Kindle. When? This Thursday. April 26th. What do I have to say about this? GET IT. You won't regret it. ;)

Than y'all for reading my review and visiting my blog today! Come again soon!

♥Jessica(:

In My Mailbox!

 Yes, my first In My Mailbox! This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.

Quick Note: Since this is my first IMM, I'm not only listing books I've received this week. I'll list all the books I've received recently that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. So, here we go! :)

Books I got from This is Teen book signing on Monday:



Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

From my local Barnes and Noble:

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Okay, so I SO excited to read all of these books. Once I finally, you know, get to them. I've had Catching Jordan for over a week now, and I seriously think this book is mocking me. AH!

So, if you read this and feel like sharing you IMMs, feel free! I'll check out anything you leave for me to see. (Because I have nothing better to do. Don't judge me. Hehe)

Come back again next week for more book recieving happiness, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Job Shadowing

I am aware that is a day late. I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I never got a chance to, so here I am. Still, belated or not, before I jump into my nice little story about job shadowing - yes, job shadowing - I want to wish Jana a very happy 16th birthday!!!!! If you don't remember who Jana is, let me refresh your memory. She is the blogger from The Book Goddess and also the wonderful person who designed my blog button! So I hope she HAD (I can't say HAS because I'm a day late on this post. Grrr.) a marvelous birthday!

All right, so on Tuesday I went on a little trip for school. It was for my BIM class (Business Information Management). I went to the ARAMARK office for out school district with two other girls from my class and we learned about what two women from their human resources department DO in their jobs there. NO, this post is not going to be about books, but it's still interesing to read about, in my opinion.

First things first - what I had to wear. This doesn't sound very important, but it STILL affects me right now, so you all get to hear about it. I had to wear business-y type things. A skirt. I NEVER wear skirts. Like, ever. It's just not my thing. But on Tuesday I did. I have to admit, it was pretty. And soft. Very plain, black. But I think it looked nice in the wind. Anyways, a skirt. A pretty gray and white shirt. I can't explain this, so just go along with whatever image you can conjure from that little bit I gave you - the colors. And lastly, the most important part, was the SHOES. The stupid, stupid shoes. So cute, yet so stupid. My. Feet. Still. Hurt. Yeah, that bad. I looked cute, though, if that's any consolation. Which it isn't for me, but hey.

Now, what is job shadowing? Well it sounds like something where you go to a JOB and SHADOW someone as they do their work. And that sounds boring. What it actually was, was meeting with two women who work at ARAMARK and having them explain what it is they do and why it's important. The two women I met with were named Adriana and Christine. They were so friendly! I will admit that at the beginning of our little meeting, it was boring. They just explained every little aspect of their department - human resources - in detail. Now, I'm not saying I didn't learn anything new. Or that I regretted going. (I mean, did YOU know that the HR department deals with marketing and uniforms? I didn't.) I'm just saying, it kind of went on. And on. And on. And plus, we were kind of shy in that beginning block of learning. Very polite. So that wasn't exactly the best aspect of the trip.

Then, after the explanation was over, we went over to the middle school nearby and looked around at the cafeteria and snack bar (because ARAMARK is who supplies our lunches). On the walk over, we all talked a bit and got to know each other a little better. I think this was the time that we got more comfortable and not so reserved - the walks, I mean, to and from the middle school. My friends told Adriana and Christine about themselves, and thier plans after high school, and I talked about my blog, of course. I love to tell people about my blog. Seriously, when I get started talking about books, I'm good to go for a WHILE.

Okay, so we were looking in the middle school, and Adriana and Christine asked for our input on things. They listened to our ideas and truly seemed to like them. I think I liked that the best, how they got so excited when we came up with ideas. It made me feel included and like I was actually DOING something.

After we got back from our trip to the middle school, we just sat around in the tiny conference room (it was seriously small, but I liked it) and talked about stuff we'd learned and thought up some more ideas. Then, we got on the bus and went back to school where I - thankfully - changed out of my business-y clothing and went to my chemistry class for, like, five minutes. Yeah, that was a perk, I got to miss some classes. Even better, I didn't really get all that far behind and am caught up now. Sometimes being the smart girl really comes in handy.

Now, what was the point of this post? No, it was not to bore you all with a non-book-related adventure. I posted this because I seriously went on the trip because it seemed interesting to me. I also went because it would be a nice thing to add to my college apps when I have to fill those out, but that's not important. What IS important is that I DID learn some things while hanging with Adriana and Christine. Let's list SOME of these things, shall we?
- a bunch of aspects that went into HR - such as the uniforms and marketing I mentioned earlier
- how much thought went into things that students see EVERY DAY
- how sincere the people who choose what goes on our lunch menus are
- how in-depth the HR department really goes into a business' interactions
- and a BUNCH more that I'm much too lazy to list
Yes, I am a lazy person. I admit to this wholeheartedly. It's just the way I am. I mean, it MUST work for me. I get things done from time to time. ;)

Quick little statement: I honestly had fun on this trip. Yes, FUN. Like the band, but not as tangible. I WOULD go on a trip like this again. I'm so glad my teacher(s) asked me to do this!

Okay, now for anyone looking for book blogging news, here it is:
I WAS going to tell you that I had no clue what I was going to post tomorrow, because this was supposed to be posted YESTERDAY. But since I missed a day, I know exactly what I'm posting tomorrow. So, come on by and check it out! ;)

Thank you guys for visiting my blog and reading this post.

Until next post, Friends! Have a safe and fun weekend!

♥Jessica(:

SLIDE into the mystery!

Slide by Jill Hathaway. I just finished this book a couple days ago, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This was one of those books that was sitting on my TBR shelf for a bit after I recieved it, and usually the longer some books sit there, the less appealing they become. My excitement evens out. Not always, but some of the time. And that was what happened with this book. But then I started reading it. And I grew connected to it so fast! Like, seriously, within the first 60 pages I felt something for this book.

This is Jill's debut, and it is a great way to kick off. There is mystery, suspense (because the two of those alway go hand-in-hand), love, fear, and a bunch of other emotions all rolled up into one pretty package. When beginning this book, it seems to be just another one of those stories where you can guess everything that happens, where you can guess all the answers. But I was glad to see that in this book, you really CAN'T. Jill just throws in a whole bunch of variables that all mix with each other and twist around any theories you may make. Certain aspects were predicable (I'll get to this later) but that was okay, because everything can't just fly out of the sky, we have to be able to grasp onto something as we red to keep our sanity. So, my point here is that this book was a plesant surprise in a gergillion ways. Ways that you have to read the book to understand. ;)

Character rundown! I'm going to give you three characters today because if I leave one out, you may guess what happens to them. . . And we all knwo that I don't spoil! Vee. Actually, her name is Sylvia, but Vee is her nickname, what she is most commonly known as. I'm going to be honest and say that I didn't really love Vee, but she was tolerable. There's nothing really specific I DON'T like about her, but there's nothing specific I like about her either. So she's okay, I guess. She can slide into other people's minds when she passes out, which I think is super cool. If only I could do that. . . Next, her best friend Rollins. I DID like Rollins. OH, ROLLINS. He's the best friend, the secret-keeping guy, and the protective guy. I always love the protective ones. Last, there's Zane. OH ZANE. I liked, Zane, too. He was the new kid, who had a bunch of secrets of his own, things he wasn't very forthcoming to share. He's the guy who Vee goes out with after meeting him in the nurses office. Hot spot, apparently. Anyways, as far as Rollins and Zane go, I like them both. One more than the other, but. . . um, I'll tell y'all more about that later. . .

The ending. Apparently there's supposed to be a sequel sometime? Well, I can totally see that by looking at the ending. It was kind of bothersome, actually, how you see Rollins say "Choose," but then I never find out what I'm choosing from. Then again, I'm probably getting distracted by the wrong thing here. The choosing thing was not the point of that epilogue. Still, what was I choosing?! Hehe. But in all seriousness, the ending was all right. Not insanely cliff-hanger-ish like some other books I've read, such as The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer or Shatter Me. (For the record: these are two of my favorite books I've read so far this year - like, top ten - so I don't mean anything BAD about this, I'm just stating fact.) While it doesn't have an insane cliff-hanger, Slide does, however, leave a bunch of room for a sequel. So that was good.

MY RATING: 4/5 stars. I'm glad I read this book, and I really liked it. I recommend it to anyone looking for a nice new mystery who thinks they can guess everything. I don't they they can. ;)

**WARNING: This is the last review where I will rate the book. I've decided this because the rating is what stresses me out the post. So from now on, I'll just rate on Goodreads. If you want to see my ratings, friend me there. Thanks!**

I want to say thank you to Jill Hathaway for sending me this book! (I won it in a Twitter contest!)

Thank you for reading my review! Be sure to keep checking out my blog for. . .OTHER things. . . ;)

Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

OH. and if you're still reading this, kudos to you! I'm TEAM ROLLINS! ;)

My First Book Signing!!

On Monday, I went to my first book signing! I am telling you right now -  I. HAD. SO. MUCH. FUN! But I'm getting ahead of myself here. First I should tell you what authors I had the honor of meeting. Well, I met Elizabeth Eulberg (Take a Bow, Lonely Hearts Club, Prom & Prejudice), Maggie Stiefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, The Scorpio Races, Lament, Ballad, I hope I got them all! If I didn't - sorry, Maggie!), and Siobhan Vivian (The List, Not That Kind of Girl, A Little Friendly Advice, Same Difference). Oh, and it was moderated by David Levithan. Yeah, THE David Levithan. I refuse to list his books because I am positive I won't get them all. He wrote three with Rachel Cohn, though - Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Naiomi & Ely's No Kiss List, and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. Yes, I have read all three of these. And, yes, I love them all.

Now back to the signing! These authors were so funny! You could tell they were all good friends. Everyone in that room had a good time, I'm sure. We laughed, we gasped, we listened. We found out some odd things about some cool authors. Examples - Siobhan is always sweaty. Okay. Hehe. Elizabeth was born perfect and shiny. Double okay. Maggie was born awesome and finds joy out of torturing her characters. Yes! Actually, Elizabeth admitted to having fun with torture, too. It was not only Maggie. The point here: my first signing was an ideal experience. Seriously, I am still smiling.

After the authors talked, I got in line to get my books signed. I got only two books. Take a Bow by Elizabeth and Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan.

                   

Unfortunately, I could not get anything by Maggie, but I got to talk to her anyways, so it was all good.

Now where was I? Oh, yes. Talking to the authors. I didn't get to talk to them long because there were, you know, other people there who wanted to talk to them too. But I am still very happy with our little mini-conversations. Since I was short on time, though, and I was SO nervous (it was my first book signing - what do you expect?) I'm going to seperate this portion of the post into two sections. One will be what I DID say to the authors, and the other is what I WANTED to say to the authors but didn't say because I forgot until after we were done chatting or something.

What I DID say:

I talked to Elizabeth first. I've been talking to her on Twitter recently, so while she was signing my book I was like "I'm here!" And then she looked at me for a second like "Whaaaaaat?" Like I was crazy or something. But then after a milisecond she was like, "Oh, you're from Twitter!" Then we talked about Twitter for a minute. Because Twitter is awesome. A greeat way to talk to people and find new friends, especially when it comes to things like this. Oh, and Elizabeth was very happy that I got a copy of Take A Bow. When I handed it to her to sign, she was like "awwww!" I also told her I would be reviewing it, which I will. So keep your eyes out for that, once I get to it in my TBR list. I have a few books left to read before I get to Take A Bow, but I am super excited to red this book! I love the cover! :)

Next, I went to Maggie. Since I didn't have anything for her to sign, I handed my copy of Not That Kind of Girl over to Sioban to sign while I told Maggie that I LOVED the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. She asked me if I cried. I told her I did. Because I truly did! I cried for Beck so much. I still can't open to certain parts in Forever that pertain to Beck without crying a little. Heartwrenching trilogy, that one. After hearing that I cried, Maggie told me she was happy about that. All in all, I loved our conversation. Nothing better than making amazing authors happy, in my mind.

Last was Siobhan. I was a tiny bit at a loss for what to say to her since I haven't read any of her books yet. I WILL be reading one, obviously, and reviewing it sometime, so I tell you again to keep your eyes out for it. Siobhan and I pretty much just exchanged kind words. She was so friendly! (They all were, really.) I told her that it was my first book signing and she was smiling and everything. I always feel special when people smile at me. That's probably because I smile so much. (Seriously, I do. Ask anyone who sees me on a daily basis and they will tell you.)

From what actually happened, I think I was probably a little too hysterical or something. I was just so excited to be there and nervous at the same time. Looking back on it now, I think I smiled a wee bit too much. And a wee bit too wide. And my voice may have shaken a little, but I honestly don't remember clearly enough. I remember EVERYTHING the authors said, I just can't remember what I said very well.

Now, what I WISH I said:

To Elizabeth, I wanted to tell her that I've read Lonely Hearts Club and have had an obsession with the Beatles ever since. I've always liked them, but after reading that book, I respected them so much more. It was truly a great book.

To Maggie, I wanted to tell her how much I adored Cole. I felt for him. And I loved his relationship with Grace. Just friends, in a sort of distant-but-still-close way. If that makes any sense. Either way, that's what I wished I'd told her.

And to Siobhan, I wish I'd told her how much I like the cover of Not That Kind of Girl. It just LOOKS like something I'd like to read, and that is always a good thing. I wish I had read at least one of her books before going to this signing so I would have more to say to her. Next time, though, I promise, I will have read ALL of your books, Siobhan. I will.

All right, so that's it for my wonderful experience of my first book signing. Thanks for reading all that, I wrote a lot, didn't I? I just had an amazing time and love talking about it. I'm so glad my brother took me! If you're reading this, Billy, I LOVE YOU. Angie, too.

I have a review of Slide by Jill Hathaway planned to be posted tomorrow, so swing on by again tomorrow for that! Thanks!

Until next time, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Teaser Tuesday! (2)

It's Tuesday! Which means it's time for my second Teaser Tuesday!

Do you want to participate in Teaser Tuesdays? It's simple and hosted by MizB from Should Be Reading. All you have to do is:

-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
-BE CAREFUL NOT T INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that the other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Ah, now. It's time for MY teaser! I'm telling you now -  I JUST began this book this morning. So this is as much of a teaser for me as it is for you. All right, here we go. . .

"Maddy felt the same electricity beginning to move through her, just like the energy she had sensed in the back room of the diner and when the two of them had gone flying. From Jacks's glinting eyes, which he never took away from hers, she could tell he felt it as well." ~pg. 162, Immortal City, Scott Speer

DUDE. I think I picked too much of a teaser. Now I want to go read more. . . Be sure to come back again tomorrow! I'll have a post about going to the This Is Teen Live! Book signing with some really cool authors! It was my first book siging, and SO. MUCH. FUN! 

Thanks, y'all!

♥Jessica(: 

My new Blog Button!!!

Hey! I am SO EXCITED to show you all my new gorgeous blog button. It was designed by the amazing Jana at The Book Goddess. I've mentioned her before, I know. She is truly amazing. Want to see the button she designed for me?!?!!

Isn't it gorgeous?!!!?!! I think it's PERFECT to go with my blog. Squeee!!! I am just so happy about this!!!!! Okay, so I've been working on getting my button into my sidebar with a grab box. I THINK I got it, so y'all can grab the button and put it on your blogs and such. If there are any problems with anything concerning my button, PLEASE (please please please) let me know. This is a learning experience for me, so any input from anyone is always welcome. I warn you now that technology is not my strong suit. Big technological words DO tend to confuse me. But seriously, if you come across anything about my button that I need to fix, tell me so I can smooth out the problem. Thanks, everyone!! :)

Okay, so this is going to be my last little nudge for you all to vote for Anna at Literary Exploration so she can go to BEA. I have made my case on how awesome she is, so I'm just going to give you the link to vote for her and cross my fingers that you guys vote for her! (Come on, she's like my blogging idol! Be sure to vote!) 

The link to vote for Anna can be found HERE. 

Thank you all for stopping by! I'm going to a book signing today (my first EVER) so I'm a little hyper! I'll tell you all about it soon! 

Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(: 

I choose ERUDITE!!

Since I have finally finished reading Divergent, I can OFFICIALLY choose a faction. I am aware that I have an Erudite button on my sidebar for a while now. But, as I mentioned, now my choice is official. So. . . I choose ERUDITE.

Why do I choose Erudite, you ask? I am very aware that Erudite are the bad guys. Believe me, I know this. And I really liked the Amity faction better. The whole peace thing seems cool to me. But that's what I like, not where I would really fit in. To be perfectly honest, I'm smart. I loathe studying, but I'm smart. How that works, I don't know. I can win arguments through rational statements (most of the time). I am naturally curious about things. So, all of these aspects of my odd personality (along with other things that I don't really feel like listing and probably other things that I don't even notice about myself) point me in the direction of Erudite. So I chose the Erudite faction. As simple as that. :)

Okay, now Insurgent comes out on MAY 1ST. Yeah, it's sooner than you'd think. I have a cute little countdown thingy in my sidebar to keep track. Anyways, I am personally not doing anything special for this occasion, but there are faction blog teams that ARE. First, here's the list of Erudite members:

-The Non Reluctant Reader

-Book Twirps

-Book Chic

-The Bookanistas

-Read Breathe Relax

-Reading Lark

-Strangemore

-Book Swarm

-YA-Sisterhood

And their genius leader is Pam from Bookalicious ;)

(Yes, I was kind enough to put the links in. Just click and see these blogs!)

Okay, so now here are the links to the awesome Erudite team GIVEAWAYS!

O'Dell at Book Twirps is giving away 2 hardcover copies of Insurgent! But wait, there's more, (if you can believe it!): if #TeamErudite wins, he will double the giveaway to 4 hardcover copies, how awesome is that? Enter HERE.

Lyndsey at Strangemore is giving away a signed copy of Divergent as well as a preorder of Insurgent. Enter HERE.

Pam, of Bookalicious, our smart faction leader is giving away 3 signed preorders of Insurgent! Enter HERE.

And OF COURSE Benji from The Non Reluctant Reader is having his own giveaway you MUST check out. Enter HERE.

You can find the link to VOTE (yes, VOTE) for Team Erudite on each of the team members' blogs! It is the simplest thing ever, I promise - all you have to do is click in a link. Easy peasy, right?

Okay, that's all, folks. I STRONGLY suggest you show the Erudite team some support. We're smart and awesome! I got all my information from Benji at The Non Reluctant Reader.

Thank you for stopping by! Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(: