My YA Crush Tourney Nominations♥

I had to include their banner. I mean, LOOK. Daemon's on it! Gorgeous.

Anyways. Why am I posting about this? Weeeell, this tourney is a bunch of fun. So I think y'all should head on over there and nominate your 10 favorite book crushes. I did.

I nominated (posiibly not in this order--I don't remember the EXACT order), oh, and they're color-coded by book:

Well, gee, who do we think I nominated first?

Daemon!--Obsidian

Of course. He's the first book boyfriend I've ever truly claimed.

Zachary--Shine

DUDE. He has an accent and wears kilts to proms. How can you NOT vote for that? *swoon*

Logan--Shine

Ah, Logan. He's Logan. 'Nuff said ;)

Martin--Shine

Martin was a cool guy. I'm kind of sad we only met him in Shine. WONDERFUL guy, right there.

Four--Divergent

I love his name. I really do, even though it's just a nickname. Plus, he's a cool dude.

Patch--Hush, Hush
Patch. I adore his actual name, too. I seriously love the Hush, Hush books. I still need to read Silence, but still. LOVE.

Christian--Unearthly
I'm Team Christian all the way. That is all.

Peregrine--Under the Never Sky
He's Perry! This book was positively splendiforous! I, for one, am super excited for the sequel. Honestly--more Perry!

Finnick--Hunger Games
Don't even get me started on this. The point is that I seriously love him. Despite how horrible his deal ends up being. AH.

Dimitri--Vampire Academy
He will forever hold a sift spot in my heart. I HAD to nominate him.

And those are my ten nominations. It was really hard for me to choose only ten. Goodness knows I swoon over someone in practically every book I read. So I picked the SHADEboys--of course. NOMINATE THEM. And I picked my very favorite Luxen, and a few other note-worthy guys I tend to sort of drool over. DON'T JUDGE ME. ;)

All right. So, now that you want to nominate some swoon-worthy guys for the tourney, you can click HERE to get to the nominate page! You can also click the banner at the top of this post, if ya feels like it. 

Okay, that's it for my little interlude of a post. Be sure to check out my review of Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout that I posted earlier, and enter my giveaways! You can win some cool stuff--I have two giveaways running at THIS VERY MOMENT! So DO IT.

Have a wonderful evening, Friends!
♥Jessica(:

Review: Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready

Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Format: Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Series: Shade #3
Source: Won from Jess @ Gone With the Words!!!

Description from Goodreads:
Life can change in an instant, and no one understands that better than Aura. It’s been almost a year since her boyfriend tragically died. She’s finally letting go of Logan’s violet-hued ghost, but not her search to uncover the truth about her past.

As the first in a generation that can see ghosts, Aura is convinced she has a connection to the Shift. She’s trusted Zachary, ever patient and ever by her side, with all that she knows. But when the government threatens his life in an attempt to learn Aura’s secrets, she will stop at nothing to protect herself and the one she loves…even if that means betraying her own heart.

We all remember my absolute elation when I recieved this book, right? I mean, I was bouncing off walls, close to tears, screaming, and using way too many CAPS. Kind of hard to forget, I think. Well, all of that super-happiness was for good reason because this book? Was so good!

The first two books were great, so my hopes were really high for this book. I had really liked them, but was hoping very much for everything to come together in this book. Plus, there was so much hype about this book. Blog hops and stuff. I was being teased on a daily basis. I'm glad to say that Jeri did a wonderful job on exceeding my expectations in this conclusion which made it all totally worth it.

I was so happy I got Shine, but was also very reluctant to read it. I didn't want this trilogy to end! But then I let Jeri and a bunch of other Twitterers (if that's a word) talk me into reading it. So I jumped into the book and was immediately pulled into the story. I'm going to get this out right now: I LOVE ZACHARY. So the begninning of this book was quite compelling in making me not want, but NEED to continue reading and figure out what was going on. My attention--held, for sure.

But, I must comment that even though I was riveted by this installment in the Shade trilogy, the beginning without Zach with us was somewhat drag-ish for me. This is based a bunch on my own personal preference for Zach. Also, since Logan is officially gone, I felt like there was a big hole in the story just waiting to be filled with Logan's awesomeness. Then again, it's about time we started to miss Logan. The poor guy has been hanging around for almost a year--he deserves some peace. My point here: the beginning had my attention, but in a slow-ish way.

This does NOT last long, however. After the initial little slump, the rest of Shine was magnificent. Emotional and logical. Sweet and somewhat dangerous. I was seriously glad that I was left with zero questions once I finished this book. Everything clicked and finally made sense to me. This whole trilogy had brought up loads and loads of confusion and having all of these questions that needed answering answered was amazing. And interesting. It was interesting how everything ended up working out with everything else.

Character rundown: Aura. Aura! I've always loved her name. I have positively nothing against Aura, which is really a compliment. I mean, look at what I thought of Tris from Divergent. I seem to be the only one I know who holds anything against her. Anyways, back to Aura--Aura is a very smart girl. Independent, too. I like how she made her own decisions based off of what she knew she wanted. Next we have Zachary. OH, ZACHARY. I've already declared my love for him in this post. He is an amazing guy. Attractive AND a genius. Strong, too. Though his pride is very bothersome sometimes. He needs to accept help when he really requires it. But I'm not going to ocus much on that because Zach is Zach and his good traits outshine his bad ones. PLUS, he has a Scottish accent! Nothing more swoon-worthy than that. Oh, wait. There is. His kilt! Ohmygosh, wow. Zach is like the modern-day Aiden MacRae! (I say moder-day because Aiden was born a loooooong time ago, though his story is recent.) The sord "swoon" was invented for guys like them.

Sweetness. Hmm. I believe I just got done telling y'all about how Zach was like Aiden. Which means that of course there is an abundance of sweet moments! I am so hapy for Aura and Zach. They have been through soooooo much. I must also be a realist for a moment and point out that I have ALWAYS been Team Zachary and that Logan has been dead since the very beginning of this series. Dead is dead. Even though Logan also had his swoon-worthy qualities, but without the charmingly lovable accent. So I was happy for Aura and Zach aithout any reservations.

The ending. I cried. Yeah, I get like that. I've loved this series since Shade first released, so saying goodbye to it was emotional. Plus, there was a nice little tear-jerker thing at the end that made my little teardrops make sense on some level, at least. This said, though, the ending was great and hopeful. As always, I can't think of any way the ending could have been better except to make it longer. But no matter what, I'd always wish it was longer, so that's not really a valid complaint, as it never is. For the record, when it IS a valid complaint, I'll be sure to let y'all know.

Final words on this trilogy: I adored these three books. If YOU have not read them, I suggest you do so. Like, this summer. A very good time for reading, you know.

Thank you to Jess for sending me the book and having the giveaway! I am so glad to own this book. It's like a little momento of the great trilogy, since I read the first two books from the library. And thank you to Jeri because: Jeri, you are AWESOME. I am totally going to read lots more by you, THAT is for sure.

Thank y'all for reading my review!

Have a wonderful day, Friends!

♥Jessica(:

Sneaking Candy into Movie Theatres...

Yup. I am one of THOSE people who sneak candy into theatres. I can't help it; the candy they sell at the establishment is always super overpriced. I'd rather save some money and bring my own Twizzlers, thanks. Okay, now you're probably wondering why I'm even talking about this. Well because I'm going to see a movie later, silly! I'm going to see Act of Valor. Apparently it's some war movie...? My mom wants to see it, and my brother and his wife have already seen it and liked it, so we're going to see it together. I don't remember even seeing prviews for this one, so it should be interesting for me.

Moving on, I (finally) went to the library today! Therefore, I now have a few books to add to my TBR list:
Take Me There by Susane Colasanti
Dark Souls by Paula Morris
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (ACTUALLY, this one will be a reread since I already read this book over the summer. I loved it, so I want to read it again!)
And last, but certainly not least:
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

That last one I chose because today is a very special day for the author: today is the release day of the last book in The Dark Divine trilogy- The Savage Grace! So I thought I should probably read this trilogy. Better late than never, right? I'll probably review these books individually instead of as a whole trilogy like I did Nightshade and The Demon's Lexicon, but I'm not sure yet. . . we'll see how it goes. I only have the first one checked out of the library so far which leads me to predict I'll do the reviews seperately. But again I say: we'll see.

So, I was thinking yesterday, and I realized that we are really getting into book release season. I mean, honestly. There are so many books coming out in May, and I know of a few in April too. A few of the books I am personally waiting for in May are:
Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready (the last in the Shade trilogy)- May 1, 2012
Until I Die by Amy Plum (sequel to Die For Me)- May 8, 2012
and
Endure by Carrie Jones (last book in Need series)- May 8, 2012

For the record: I know that all three of those books are in series or are sequels. I'm just saying that those are a few books that I am looking forward to in the month of May. Later in the summer, I certainly have some stand alone books that I am excited for. I'll list those some other time, though.

Now, for my last piece of good news (if I even had any good news before this...?). You all know that book called Between by Cyndi Tefft that I have been yapping about for abnout a week now? (see my other posts, I've mentioned this book in a few of them) Well my parents said I could get it! *this is where the angels start singing* I am so happy! The only catch: I have to wait until the beginning of next month for it. So now I am waiting. I am not a very patient person. But I shall deal! If you haven't heard my convincing argument on how every single person who reads any of my blog posts should read Between, then. . . READ IT. Come on, there is a super attractive male Scottish male character named Aiden MacRae. I don't know about you, but that alone is enough to prompt me to read it. Plus, did you notice I said SCOTTISH. As in- SCOTTISH ACCENT. Dude, an accent! So appealing. Ah, I love accents. Throw an accent on an attractive male character and I am a happy gal. Anyways, I'll be reading it sometime and I will review it and actually have true credibility of recommending it instead of just my strong tingly feeling in my tummy whenever I think of that book and Aiden MacRae♥

Last piece of business- I am currently reading Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I am just shy of 100 pages in, and have no actual opinion of this book so far. It seems promising, though. The story's really starting to unfold. And that's all I'm going to say on that front.

All right, blog readers. This is all I have to say right now. I now have to go email my bestest friend. I won't promote my Twitter this time, but if you want to check it out, I told y'all my username in my last few posts. As always, thank you al for taking the time to read my rambling blog! I am truly grateful.

Until next time, Friends!

♥Jessica(: