300 Follower Giveaway!

 

So. Here we are again. At the beginning of ANOTHER follower giveaway. Because, um...well...you guys are AWESOME. The last time I had one of these, I only had 55 followers. 55. Now I have 317. This is a big deal. So I am celebrating via giveaway!  I'm calling it my 300 follower giveaway, because...well, close enough, right?

 

What am I giving away, you ask?

 

Good question! I've given a lot of thought to what I should give away. A book, obviously. Because, DUH, this is a book blog. But what book? I thought of a whole bunch of books I love--Obsidian, Onyx, Under the Never Sky, etc--but I find it insanely hard to EVER just pick a book.

 

So. I asked my friend Benji from The Non Reluctant Reader (and if you haven't been to his blog, you should head over there right after you finish here, just saying), and he said I should giveaway a preorder of The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

 

And that's what I'm going to do.

 

BUT.

 

Yes, there is a "but."

 

BUT, if you are one of THOSE people who have not read the first book to this, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, you can win that instead. Because I believe in being fair. Yeah.

 

The deets:

-Since we're celebrating followers, you must be a follower to enter

-This giveaway will run until 10/22/12, the day before The Evolution of Mara Dyer is released

-This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL, because I do have international followers, and they're awesome

-Be sure to check out my giveaway policy for more rules for my giveaways, just to be sure you aren't breaking any

-Fill out the Rafflecopter form to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Thank you guys so much! Y'all are legit amazing.

 

♥Jessica(:

Blogger Interview ♥ Jana from The Book Goddess!

Hey, everybody! So I have this wonderful thing called SCHOOL taking up a bunch of my time. And as much as I adore blogging, I need to give school it's fair amount of time, too. So I'm not going to cut back on blogging or anything, because I am very aware of the fact that I JUST got back from an almost-all-summer-long break, but for now I'll try to cut down a little on reviews. A little less time reading, and a little more time studying, eh? So to fill the free slots that may come up, I'm going to start doing some dicsussion and interview posts and stuff.

And this is the first one!

 

Jana from The Book Goddess!

Jana is one of my closest blogger friends and has one of my top favorite blogs. I also tend to refer to her as my Lux-loving friend, for reasons that are obvious once you know her. I am so incredibly excited to have her by my blog today!

1. Hey, Jana! Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today. Can you start by telling us a little about you blog?

Hi Jessica! The Book Goddess is a book blog where I mainly feature and review Young Adult and New Adult books. I've only started blogging on January 1st, 2012, so I'm still pretty new at this and have so much stuff to learn! :) I pretty much review any book within YA/NA, but it has to have strong romantic elements for me to not put it down. I ALSO NEED A BAD BOY, PLEASE. My books and life won't be complete without 'em.

2. Your blog is amazing and everyone should check it out. Just saying. So, what was your favorite review you've ever written and why? Least favorite?

That's easy. Onyx all the way. It's my favourite review, but also the hardest to review. I was literally shaking writing it. I got the e-arc just before I went to bed, read until like 45% or something, then woke up at 5am (on a Saturday!!) to finish it. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Straight after that, I wanted to post my review asap but I had no idea what to write. What to say. I had like no words to describe how much I loved it so it took me freaking AGES to write that review. It's super long, too.
The least favourite review: Oh, that's hard. Probably all the reviews from when I first started blogging? I never read them now 'cause I CRINGE. So bad.

3. I am the same way! So much facepalming! And Onyx was a difficult review to articulate words for, so much awesomeness... Now, tell us about your favorite author?

I think everyone know that my favourite author is Jennifer L. Armentrout. I stalk her every day. Haha. Kidding. Well, sort of. Anyway, how can she NOT be my favourite author? I obsess all over her books and fall in love with all of her guy characters. I'm gonna stop now before I begin explaining and boring you with reasons as to why I love her and her books. It'll take us foreverrrrr :P

4. I agree, how can she NOT be a favorite? I love her, as well. Then again, who doesn't? ;) So, who's your favorite book character?

THIS IS SUCH A HARD QUESTION. OMG. I don't even know. I've got SO many. Most of them are guys though. You can have a look at my FAVES page on the blog for my favourite characters, book boyfriends and fave couples!

5. I've been to your faves page, and just let me say this--your faves are the absolute best! So, if you could mix two book characters together to make one big story, who would you choose and why?

Hehe. I'd love to have Daemon Black and Jace Wayland/whateverhisname in one big story. Two super hot guys with massive egos in one room together? YES PLEASE. Oh, and they can fight over me.

6. I LOVE the fighting over you idea! And Daemon Black...he's just a character we want to see everywhere. But back to the interview, how does blogging mesh with our everyday life? (How do you manage mixing blogging and other stuff?)

I'm only 16 so I still have school (or sixth form as we call it here!) and obviously that gets so busy and everything but right now I'm managing it quite well. Blogging is also something I very much enjoy doing so I don't see it as a chore; I have a lot of fun with it. I also schedule nearly all my posts for the following week the weekend before so I can just concentrate on my studies and whatnot during the weekdays. And I made my own blog calendar - which helps me out a LOT. I find that I forget everything so easily, so having a calendar helps keep me organized, and so I can decide if the blog have too many features and not so many reviews, or vice versa. I really recommend that. I also take short breaks from blogging every now and then, usually when I'm having a lot of exams or just having a more stressy life.

7. I should get a calendar! Goodness, that's a good idea. So, have you made any friends through blogging? Who are some, and tell us about their blogs!

OMG. I never would have thought that I'd meet such amazing people through blogging. Seriously, sometimes I wish my blogger friends go to my school. Better than backstabbing bitches any day, if ya ask me. Obviously, you Jessica, are one of them. You make my day with all your emails and messages to me! Then Kay from K-Books is the most awesome and helpful blogging friend I know. I don't even know what to do without her.

8. Jana, you're so sweet! Now, last question before we get to favorites and what not--Which YA books are you most looking forward to reading next year? (This question was actually Jana's idea. It's such a great question I HAD to add it, but she deserves all the credit.)
The Collector by Victoria Scott. God knows I've been excited for this book for ages now and if I don't get Dante soon enough I'll die. And can we not forget Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout? An ARUM and a human?? And it's for adults = need this right now! :D

The Collector! I am drooling over that one currently, myself. And YES. Obsession just looks...YES. All right, now I'm going to do some favorites and stuff. Just some short answers because these are always fun!

Color: Purple.
Book cover: OPAL OPAL OPAL. Why? It's got Daemon. No, seriously it's got a hot sexy alien called Daemon. What more could we all ask for? But anyway, I just love the colour scheme, the poses and how Daemon and Kat are all cuddling up and ready to go at it. The super scary Arum (which I didn't even notice at first until someone tweeted it) was just the perfect touch.
Song: Right now it's DNA by Little Mix. Don't you think this is the perfect song for Daemon??
Season: Summer because I LOVE going to the beach. Such a great excuse to drool at shirtless guys, right?
Book quote: "My lips change lives, baby." - from none other than Daemon Black. (teaser from Opal) and "You’ll become the center of someone’s world one day. And he’ll be the luckiest son of a bitch on this earth.” - Aiden from Pure (Covenant #2)

Book series: Too many. But I'll keep it short so: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, Lux by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Covenant by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, and so much more.

Did I or did I not tell you that you have some great favorite things? *sigh* Now just some this or thats! And by "this or thats" I sometimes mean Teams. Because I LOVE Teams.

Edward or Jacob? Edward all the way.
Peeta or Gale? Peeta.
Covenant or Lux? (this one may not be choosable, just let me know): Lux Lux Lux. I wasn't that blown away by Covenant until the 3rd book, Deity. I loved Lux from the very first book, Obsidian.
Dimitri or Adrian? OMG such a hard question!! It really depends. During VA series, I was all Dimitri all the way. But right now, Adrian's my boy.
Hardcopy or ecopy? Hardcopy though I do love my kindle and cuddle it from time to time.
Paperback or hardcover? Hardcover.

I agree with every single one of those this or thats. Every. Single. One.

All right, that's it for the interview. Jana is a seriously awesome person, and if you've never stopped by her blog, you SERIOUSLY should. Like, now. All you have to do is click HERE. She also has a really cool giveaway going on right now where you can enter to win either a preorder or OPAL by Jennifer L. Armentrout or a preorder of DEITY by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

I know. AWESOME, right?

♥Jessica(:

Waiting On Wednesday! (11)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we tell y'all about the books we cannot wait to get our hands on!

The Collector by Victoria Scott

Expected Publication: March 12, 2013

Publisher: Entangled Teen

 

Description from Goodreads:

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence has made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days.

Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions deeply buried.

 

Why I'm waiting on this:

First, I must protray my frustration. I am always late to these parties--how is it that I am just NOW getting caught up in all the Dante Walker awesomeness? Grrrr. Still, THIS BOOK LOOKS AMAZING. Dante Walker is definitely a character I want to get to know, and it's sad that I have to wait all the way to March to do this. I AM DYING FOR THIS BOOK! Ah!

 

Also, this release date is EXACTLY a month after my birthday. Just a fun fact for you ;)

 

What are you waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments!

 

♥Jessica(:

 

 

Teaser Tuesday! (16)

 

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!

 

On September 27, one of my best friends turned 16. When I was on the phone with her that day, I promised her I'd do a teaser post of a book she had really enjoyed recently (and, luckily, one I've read and liked immensely). So, today, my teaser is a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her, and it's from...

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Release Date: January 8. 2008

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Description from Goodreads:

Girl meets boy.
Girl loses boy.
Girl gets boy back...

...sort of.Ava can't see him or touch him,
unless she's dreaming.
She can't hear his voice,
except for the faint whispers in her mind.
Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson.
The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with.
He's back from the dead,
as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

Teaser:

"He couldn't help it.

He started laughing too.

 

Then he pulled me

into his arms

and whispered

in my ear,

'I just love you so much.

I want to be with you always.'"

 

Yes, this book is in verse. It is beautiful and sweet, and I like it.

 

Leave links in the comments to your teasers--I'd love to see them! And if you feel so inclined, feel free to wish my friend Vicki a happy belated birthday!

 

♥Jessica(:

Review: Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Format: Hardcover (signed), 368 pages
Publisher: Hyperion
Source: Bought

Description from Goodreads:
Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.

As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time.

Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, Time Between Us is a stunning, spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new voice in YA fiction.

I have been so pumped to read this book ever since I bought it. It looks like a super sweet time-traveling love story. And it is. But it is also more, and I loved it!

This is the story of Anna and Bennett. I like that we jump into that right off the bat. Along with that, we are already given some mystery as to what, exactly, is going to happen with these two. At first glance, this book seems so predictable, but once you get into it, it's really not. I was surprised by this story more than once. I was expecting this book to follow a particular path, and while it did follow that path somewhat roughly, there were things I never would have expected before reading this book thrown in, too.

So, yes, this is a romantic time traveling story. But it is also more than that. And that "more" was unexpected for me. But it also dragged me into the book that much more. I liked watching Anna grow and change and develop a deeper undersatnding of herself. In a way, this is both Anna's story AND Anna and Bennett's story.

Character Rundown:
Anna: I loved Anna! As her best friend says, she has fight. But even though she has fight, she's not cocky about it. Plus, she's insanely cute. There was one time in the book where she made a big deal out of returning a pencil to Bennett, and I thought that was just too cute. And, as I already said, she grew so much as a character, and I enjoyed watching that. I wish there was more to read of Anna!
Bennett: Bennett. I really, really, REALLY like Bennett. I may even love him. It's hard, though, because he can be something of a liar. I suppose, overall, I certainly do love this boy. He's sweet and kind, and he has things he cares about. Anna, for one. His grandmother and sister. I liked seeing him care about them, too. His only little flaw was the lying. That does not float my boat.

The ending. I'm not going to say the ending was unexpected. Because I kind of did expect it. The CIRCUMSTANCES, however, I did not. I wasn't expecting Anna to be where she was or even to hear what we heard. If this makes no sense to you now, trust me--you'll get it once you read the book. Still, the ending left me with a happy feeling.

Overall, ...well, overall, you know how I just said the ending left me with a happy feeling? Well, it's more like THIS WHOLE book left me with a happy feeling. I found myself smiling more times than I could count as I read this. It's such a sweet, fun book. I strongly suggest you give it a try. Everyone deserves a chance to read Anna and Bennett's story.

♥Jessica(:

What I Got! (12)

What I Got is a weekly meme hosted by Monica over at Cover Analysis :) where we tell y'all about the wonderful brag-worthy bookish things we got this week!

 

LIBRARY:

Timepiece by Myra McEntire

Y'all know I read Hourglass, so I needed to get the sequel. Obviously. I don't know, though...this one isn't giving me the warm tingly feeling Hourglass did, even though this one's in Kaleb's POV. I'll give it a try sometime and we'll see how it goes.

 

Switched by Amanda Hocking 

It was about time I got my hands on this.

That is all.

 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Yeah. I haven't read this yet. It's about time I did, though, right?

 

BOUGHT:

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead 

I have been wanting this book for so long, I'm so glad I got this! I'm starting this as soon as I possibly can. Seriously.

 

ACQUIRED:

A Touch Morbid by Leah Clifford

I got this, signed, at my outing with Leah on Thursday. Yay! I posted about this on Friday, if you want to try to understand the post. I had a wonderful time, and Leah Clifford is super-awesome.

 

What did you get this week? Leave links so I can see!

 

♥Jessica(:

 

 

 

 

Review: A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young
Release Date: June 1, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 267 pages
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Series: A Need So Beautiful #1
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be Forgotten...

Charlotte’s best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what’s really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth, who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become--her mark on this earth, her very existence--is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny--no matter how dark the consequences.

A Need So Beautiful is one of those books I'd been looking at for a while, then decided to just grab it off the library shelf one day. I do this a lot, I know. Usually with these kinds of books--the ones I resist reading for a while for no real good reason--I end up kicking myself and wishing I had read the book sooner. And the same goes for A Need So Beautiful.

This book was beautiful. Just reading it broke my heart a little bit. Suzanne did a wonderful job of making the reader FEEL throughout this book. I felt Charlotte's desperation and confusion, and even a little of her love for Harlin, that sweet boy. Charlotte's thoughts and emotions were definitely portrayed in a way that the reader could comprehend them, and use them to understand the story better.

As far as the actual happenings of this book go, though, that wasn't AS great as it could have been. While the beginning of the book was mesmerizing, the middle slacked a bit in holding my attention. I got to the point that I get to in some books where I'm just waiting for a certain character to come back and amuse me again. In this case it was Alex and Harlin. The story was exremely interesting, but it didn't enthrall me as much as I'd hoped it would in the middle chunk.


Now that I've gotten all the criticism out of the way, I want to explain how much I liked this book. This was such a unique take on angels that was both precise and open to interpretation. This isn't a run-of-the-mill angel story, so I had a good time reading it, for the most part. Plus, this book did not drag. It moved right on along smoothlyin such a--as I mentioned at the beginning of this post--beautiful way.

Character Rundown:
Charlotte: Charlotte was not the most memorable female lead I've ever read about. She WAS a nice one, though. She played the nice-girl card well. She was also easy to identify with throughout the story. I completely understood her as I was reading from her eyes, which made the story that much better.
Harlin: He's sweet, so SO sweet, but he was also very boring. I love sweet boys--I mean, who DOESN'T?--but when they're so sweet, they're boring, that doesn't fly with me. He needs a personality, too. He needs to have something to live for that's NOT out MC. He can love her more than anything, but it's not fun when she's the ONLY thing. Where's the inner turmoil there?
Other Characters: I said already that Alex was a character I looked forward to. He's such a sweetie pie! And then Dr. Swift. He was boring to me, too. But with him, there wasn't any sweet words being said to make me happy. It was just information. Which is good to know, but not fun to read. It was kind of like info-dumping. Not cool.

The ending. The ending was not what I expected at all. Seriously, I did not expect this book to end the way it did. Needless to say: the sequel is most definitely needed as soon as I can manage to pay attention to it. As far as endings go, this one certainly was not too shabby.

Overall, this is certainly a book that should be given a chance. It has its faults, but it is also a stunningly unique and somewhat haunting novel.