Top Ten Books That Remind Me of Summer

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's topic: Top Ten Books That Should Be In Your Beach Bag or Ten Books That Will Be In My Beach Bag This Summer

I'm adjusting the topic a little bit because I'm not much of a beach-goer. If I DO go, I'll be sure to let y'all know what I brought, but for now I'll just list the top ten books that remind me of summer. And when I say "remind me of summer," I mean for a multitude of reasons. Not just because the book took place in summer (though some of them do!) :)

Fire by Kristin Cashore: I read this book in the summer. I read Graceling in the summer, too, but for some reason, this is the one that resonates with the idea of summer for me. Maybe it's an association thing--fire is hot just like summertime, or the cover is orange red and hotter colors. I'm not sure. All I know is that this book = summer in my mind. Also, this book = Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine.

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles: I really, really like this trilogy. These three were the first books I'd ever picked up by Simone, and I am so grateful I found them. I'm fairly certain these were more that I read in summertime, and this book is my favorite in the trilogy. The romance is another thing that pairs this novel with summer for me. It's sweet, it's fantastic, and that's the way I think.

The Book of Luke by Jenny O'Connell: I BOUGHT this book during the summer of 2010. It was my first trip to a bookstore (Borders!) in Texas, and I was all kinds of excited to spend my money on some books. I flew through this book soon after buying it, and now it sticks out in my mind. The carefree cover helps a lot, too. And if you've ever seen John Tucker Must Die, this is a story sort of like that, but I like this ending way better. This is my favorite JTMD-esque story.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: The story takes place during summer--as do several of Sarah Dessen's novels--and also features one of my favorite Sarah Dessen boys. (Okay, so that's a trick thing, since I love them all even though I probably shouldn't.) Of all of Sarah's summer-set books, this one is always the first one to come to mind. I think this is the first to come to mind of all her novels in general for me. I love Dexter, and this whole story is sweetness personified. There's a lot said about love in here that was so enlightening for me to read--then again, that happens with lots of Sarah Dessen books for me :)

The Story of Us by Deb Caletti: Deb Caletti is one of my favorite contemporary authors, and my favorite book by her is actually Stay which also takes place during the summer, like this one. But this book is the one that reminds me of summer. Maybe it's because I read this one in a summer month. Maybe it's because I wasn't feeling well when I read it. Maybe it's because I cried like a baby at the end, even though I cannot to this day truly understand why. There are lots of reasons why this may be the one of Deb's books that reminds me of summer, but all I know for sure is that it does. And you should read it, because it's fabulous.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han: I didn't read this one in the summer. I actually didn't read any of this trilogy in the summer. We'll Always Have Summer almost made it, but it was the beginning of May. But I didn't need to read these in the summer, since these books are all about summer for people who have been close all their lives. This one isn't as carefree, but it is beautiful and I enjoyed all three of these books absolutely. The love triangle could be quite agonizing, but that didn't take the story down any for me. (By the way, I was Team Conrad. I heart me some Jere, though.)

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: Fun, sweet, and adorable, this book is one that I can pick up at literally any time and enjoy. The lightheartedness of it makes it fit perfectly into the summer category of my brain, and St. Clair, y'all. ST. CLAIR. With his accent and his kindness and everything that is him. Goodness, I adore this book.

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles: Yes, another one by Simone. This is actually my favorite trilogy by her. I'm not sure if I have a favorite book within the trilogy, so I'm just listing the first one. I first got into these books in the summer, but even if I didn't I know they'd still be on this list because they fit just like Anna did. They're funny, quirky, and I swoon my face off while reading. Avi is one of my favorite book boys of all time. ALL TIME, GUYS. That's a big deal.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I was part of the Daemon Invasion in the summer of 2012 (our team ended up winning--check out the dedication in Opal!), and that was when I "officially" started getting into JLA. I read Obsidian in June, and then died inside until August when Onyx came out. Then I read that ASAP and waited forever and a half for book 3. But still, I got into this series and JLA in summer. The beginning of summer, to be exact. These books will always have a strong tie to those months for me, as will they to my favorite song: Mr. Jones by Counting Crows. OH, and it's also worth mentioning that Daemon and Katy's story begins in the summertime. So that's another thing.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson: This book is the epitome of summer reads for me. I read it in the summer, it takes place in the summer, and every summer since I read it, I've wanted to pick it up and take a trip down memory lane with Amy and Roger. It's extremely difficult for me to think of anything I dislike about this book; I just love so much about it. I love Roger, I love Amy, I love their adventure, I love their playlists, I LOVE IT ALL. And goodness, I swooned so hard. The very first book I ever think of when asked about my favorite summer read is always this story about Amy and Roger and their fantabulous detour that I had the best time reading. I can't wait to dig in this summer and read it again! 

And that's my list! Have you read any of them? Do they remind you of summer at all? Let me know! Also, if you did a Top Ten Tuesday post (even if you did it without modifying the topic), link me up so I can check it out! Just because I'm not much of a beach goer doesn't mean I don't want me some super fun beach reads. ;) 

What I Got #22 ♥ Happy Things!!

What I Got is a weekly meme hosted by Monica over at Cover Analysis :)

 

This si going to be two weeks worth of books, because last week I HAD to post my review for The Darkest Minds. That book was just too amazing to wait. So, yeah. What I got for the last two weeks!

 

For Review:

Dracian Legacy by Priya Kanaparti

I JUST finished this last night (Friday night). I had so much fun reading it and I adore the characters! My review will be posted (along with a character interview) on Febryary 16th as part of the blog tour!

 

 

The Essence by Kimberly Derting

I got this for review for my post on the blog tour, last Saturday, but I couldn't read it in time, so now I'm going to review it just regular, on the blog! I have not started it yet, but I'm sort of kind of TOTALLY excited about it. Thank you to Simon & Schuster!

 

Breaking Waves by Danielle Sibarium

I got the first book, Heart Waves, in my last What I Got. I'm currently reading that one, and then I'll read this one, and then I'll be reviewing them both for the blog tour! Thank you to Danielle for sending me this book!! (And the first, as well. Loving it so far!)

 

Apollyon  by Jennifer L. Armentrout

YESYESYESYESYESYESYES, I got this! This was the book I was upset I didn't get last What I Got. But now I have it and I am soooooo happy. I can't wait to read it! Thank you so, so, SO much to SHP for sending me this book for review!

 

Gifted!

I got a bunch of gifted stuff this week, so I'm going to break it down by person!

 

From Dolly, my wonderful best friend from Creative Writing class:

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This was on so many of my lists. For Christmas, for what I NEED to read in 2013, and so on. So I was SO FLIPPING ECSTATIC when my dear friend Dolly randomly showed up to Creative Writing with this book for me. Apparently, her blog stalking skills are spot-on. Thank you so much, Dolly! I'm so excited to read it!!

 

From Perez, my big baby of a Physics best friend:

The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

I have not read anything Sherlock Holmes. EVER. So I'm seriously excited to actually become a cool kid and and read this! Eeeeeeeep! Thaaaaanks, Perez. YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH GIFTS OF THE BOOKISH VARIETY.

 

From Anna, my super awesome blogging idol who runs Literary Exploration:

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

I've been wanting to read this since it came out last summer. So Anna was nice enough to give me her ARC!! I already read this and it was amazing. There shall be a review sometime ;)

 

Asunder by Jodi Meadows

Anna is a wonderful person for giving me her ARC of this. I was being whiny on Twitter about how it looked so nice and then she was all like "I'll send it to you." I spazzed. And am still spazzing. Yay!

 

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

I love this book. I love this book I love this book I love this book. My favorite book out of the eight I've read this year and my favorite non-JLA book, EVER. It is so amazing and I love it so, so, SO much. I cannot wait for the next book. I already posted my review last week, and just...wow. I heart Anna so. Much. For surprising me with this book.

 

Thanks a million to Anna for these three books (I've read two and they were great!) and for being so awesome and ahhhhh, so much happiness. :)

 

From my dear author friend, Priya, who may or may not be one of my favorite people:

Accordance by Shelly Crane

Book 2 in the Significance series! I am incedibly happy and excited to get into this one. I'm just starting it today (Saturday) and I'm all smiley about it!

 

Defiance by Shelly Crane

Book 3! AHHH! And, this goes for the cover of Accordance, too--Pepe and Sztella! Love.

 

Independence by Shelly Crane

And book 4. I now own the whole series! Yay! I can't wait to just sit and reeeeeeeead them all! And now I won't have to die at the end of any of them! Hehe.

 

Losing It by Cora Carmack

I've been in love with this cover for ages. For some reason, it just makes me happy! I think it's the top half of the cover. Anyways, there was that, and then the fact that the description looks like this book is going to be great. Top that all off with the fact that JLA said this was her favorite book of 2012...I wanted this book. And now I have it!! I can't wait to read this one, either.

 

Thank you so, so, SOSOSOSOSO much, P-Diddio! I'm still happy dancing over this. Mhmm. Yeah. STILL. Super amazing early birthday gifts!

 

And...I think that's all of What I Got for this week. Or two. Sorry if I forgot anything!

 

What did YOU get this week?!?! Have you read any of the books I got? Telll meeee!

 

♥Jessica(:

HOW TO RUIN my poor heart♥

Hey, everybody! So, I sadly finished reading How To Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation by Simone Elkeles. This is the third How To Ruin book, so if you haven't read the first two, I STRONGLY suggest you do, like, now. Before I start talking, I'll show you the cover(s). . .

NOW you understand why I said "coverS," right? I read the one on the left. I checked it out from my library and I am so happy/unhappy that I did. I'm happy because I got to read it and unhappy because now I've read it, but I don't own it. What a dilemma. . . Now on to the actual review!

I love love love love love love love love love love love love love this book. (I think y'all get the point now - I LOVE this book.) It was funny, it was sweet, it was deep, it was AMAZING. This is the kind of book that will have you laughing one second and wanting to cover your eyes the next. (I'm serious. I wanted to cover my eyes as I read this one, some things were just THAT. . .whoa, you know?) Yet again in this series, Simone has crafted an utterly beautiful story that will make you grin and want to slap somebody - in my case at least, but I promise no one was harmed in the reading of this book.

So, what is this book about? Amy goes on yet another adventure. What makes this adventure special? Why, Friends, Amy is going to boot camp! I am serious. She is going to boot camp in Israel because. . . you guessed it! She wants to see Avi. Honestly, no one can blame her for that. Avi = IDEAL MALE SPECIMEN. Then, of course, Amy gets into trouble and whatnot at the base she is being boot-camped at. (Yeah, probably not an actual verb, but hey, I'm creative.) Out of all three of these How To Ruin books, I do not think I even have a favorite. They are all equally stunning.

Now 'tis character rundown time!!!!!! Okay, you ready? First we have Amy. The most confident girl anyone could ever meet. A total city girl, who is lucky enough to have Avi as a boyfriend. She is a super emotional drama queen who has more guts than I could ever wish to have. I personally like her, though there were a lot of times throughout this book where I was practically yelling at her because she does some things that most people probably wouldn't do. And that's another great thing about her. Next, we have the most gorgeous Avi - OH AVI. Avi is so wonderful, I must say it again - OH AVI. He is a soldier in Israel who has problems with expressing emotions - but really, what guy doesn't? - and has just as much confidence as Amy. He fights for what he loves without hesitation and doesn't give what he cares about up easily. While he may seem like the rock-hard serious soldier-guy, he's really just a big sweetheart. And that makes me LOVE him. Honestly, I think I'm in love with him. Whew.

Now, I have to comment on the romance in this book. There is bunches. It is amazing. Not insane or anything, but super-satisfactory. It's mixed in very well with the other happenings in the story. Plues, there is more depth to the story than just Amy&Avi being the cutest couple EVER. There is regular friend drama, there is Amy's strong Jewish faith, there is Amy's lovely grandmother. None of this might make any sense to you right now, but READ THIS BOOK, and you'll get it, I promise.

As for the ending. The ending made me want to cry. Not because of any particular ending-thing, but because the book was over. This is the last How To Ruin book out, and as far as I know there are no plans for another one. I wish there were! But there aren't So now I shall be heartbroken and miss Avi forever and ever. Other than that, though, the ending wasn't bad, so don't worry. A wee bit abrupt, considering what happens just before the book ends, but all right.

Before I give my rating, I want to say something. This book tugged at my heart in the sweetest, cutest way. Truly. Amy and Avi are such a loveable couple. Their adventures always bring laughter and smiles with them, though some drama always ensues to complicate things. That's all right, though, because in the end, all that ever matters is known, and they believe in it. I've just been thinking of saying this as I read the book, so I had to tell you before I forgot :) On that note, I rate this book 5/5 stars (of course). If I could, I may have even rated it 6 or 7/5, but Goodreads (<--- yes, a link to friend me on Goodreads!) does not offer that option ;) I strongly suggest you check out these How To Ruin books. If you don't, I promise you, you're really missing something. THANK YOU, SIMONE ELKELES for writing about Avi and Amy (to behonest, mostly Avi, but Amy WAS important too. . .) and creating these wonderful stories. There may not be any plans for another one of these books right now, but I seriously hope that someday we get another story with the cutest couple EVER.

So, my blog Friends, I will leave you with a quick update: I am currently reading Hades by Alexandra Adornetto. I'm not sure when the review for that will be up, but I'd probably say this weekend at the latest. I have a four day weekend because of Easter, so. . . ;)

Thank y'll for reading my post! Remember to FOLLOW, too! Trust me, it'll pay off.

Until next post, Friends!

♥Jessica(: