Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday was started by Lauren’s Page Turners.  You just have to show off a book on your TBR list.

My choice this week is First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy.

It started for pranks, fun, and forever memories.
A secret society – for the four of us. 
The rules: Never lie. Never tell. Love each other.
We made the pledge and danced under the blood moon on the meteorite in the orchard. In the spot we found the dead girl five years earlier. And discovered the ancient drawings way before that. 
Nothing could break the four of us apart – I thought.
But then, others wanted in. Our seaside town had secrets. History.
We wanted revenge.
We broke the rules. We lied. We told. We loved each other too much, not enough, and in ways we weren’t supposed to. 
Our invention ratcheted out of control.
What started as a secret society, ended as justice. Revenge. Death. Rebellion.

You can add it to your list here.

Tagged “This-Is-My-Truth-Now”

I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing here, but I was tagged by Claire@bookscoffeeandrepeat.  Original tag by this is my truth now. Hopefully I got everything right.

RULES:

• Create your own new post and call it “Tag: This-Is-My-Truth-Now” and be sure to include in your tags the words — without quotes — “ThisIsMyTruthNow Tag”
• Be sure to mention the person who tagged you and maybe tell everyone something interesting about the person who tagged you.
• Include a link to the original post (https://thisismytruthnow.com/2017/05/31/tag-this-is-my-truth-now/) mentioning the creator of this tag (James @ This is My Truth) so we can see how many people choose to play along.
• Choose 12 bloggers to tag and include a link to their latest post, so others can check them out and meet new people.
• Answer all 12 questions in The Challenge Questions section, but replace the 12th question with your own new one around telling the truth or revealing something interesting about yourself — you can leave the existing if you can’t think of something. (comment your answers to my question below before you change and post)
• Make sure to add your own DARE to your tagged guests at the bottom of the post!
• If you haven’t been tagged, but you want to play along, you can totally jump on in and post responses to the tag on your blog.
• Include these rules when you copy/paste to your own post.

TRUTH: Answer the challenge questions as truthful as possible!

OR

DARE:  If you choose not to accept the tag, you have to follow through on whatever dare the person who tags you chooses.

 

My dare to you is to read the book that has been on your tbr list the longest.

 

QUESTION 1: You’re on your way to a birthday dinner that your friends have thrown for you. When you arrive, your favorite author is having dinner by himself or herself and asks you to sit with them, before you even see your friends or they see you. You have two choices: (1) You can sit with the author but can’t tell your friends that you’ve abandoned them for three hours, or (2) Meet your friends and lose the only chance you’ll ever have to talk with the author. Pick one or the other — no exceptions or communication to your friends to tell them about the author — and explain why.

That’s a tough one for me.  I would hate to abandon my friends, but my closest friends would totally get it and would forgive me.  I’m terrible at making decisions and I’m not really sure what I would do.  I’m not super social, so I would probably stay with my friends instead of being super awkward and embarrassing myself.

QUESTION 2: You’ve got an opportunity to spend a few hours alone “in your bedroom” with a character from any book you’ve previously read. The character tells you that (s)he would like to lock the door and spend some alone time with you. What book and character is it, and do you decide to enter the room and lock the door, or tell them you aren’t interested?

My recent book crush was Porter from Alex, Approximately.  So if I wasn’t married and was quite a bit younger, I would love to hang with him.   For friendship with a girl, I would pick Molly from The Upside of Unrequited.  But it would be creepy for her to want to lock the door so we could be alone.

QUESTION 3: If you could turn any male character from one of your favorite books into a female character (or change a female into a male) in the book or book series, which one and why?

Willowdeen from Dumplin.  I just think it would be a funny reversal to read about a boy entering a beauty pageant to piss off his mom.

QUESTION 4: What blogger currently on your follower’s list (meaning they follow you too) do you admire the most and why?

No real favorites yet.  I’m still really new to this, but I’ve found a lot of great bloggers already.

QUESTION 5: If you could change any one decision your favorite book character made, what would it be and why?

Since I just finished Tiger Lily, I would say Pan.  I would want them together even though it changes everything.

QUESTION 6: If you could pick 1 character from a book and 1 character from a TV show you watch (that is NOT based on a book) to be in a relationship together, who would you choose, and why?

I don’t watch a ton of TV shows, so I’m not really sure on this one.  I do love Jess from New Girl, but I’m not sure who I would put her with.  If I think of something, I’ll come back and edit this.

QUESTION 7: It’s your last day on Earth. As you are about to cross that final finish line, a mysterious shadow appears, giving you a choice: (1) You can go move forward to whatever comes next for you [based on your own spiritual or religious beliefs], or (2) you can become a character in a book series and exist permanently doing whatever that author chooses to do with you in the book. Which do you choose, and if it’s option 2, reveal the book and author.

Probably move forward to whatever comes next.  I wouldn’t want to live my life dictated by someone else, even a super cool author.

QUESTION 8: If you could steal a pet from someone in any book you’ve read, but had to replace it with a friend’s pet (meaning they wouldn’t ever see their pet again), would you do it?  If so, explain the who and why.

Probably not.  I’m too nice and wouldn’t want to upset anyone.

QUESTION 9: If you could turn someone from your real life into a character from a book, who from your life, who in the book and why?

I probably can’t answer that unless it was someone with a small role in my life.

QUESTION 10: Post a picture of the cover of a book you read in 2000 and the book you are currently reading now. (Note: if you weren’t alive in 2000, pick the first book you ever read and tell everyone what year it was from).

Does anyone remember what they read in 2000?  I most likely read the most recent Ann Rule book though.

Just finished Emma In The Night.

QUESTION 11: Your favorite character (under 18) needs a place to stay for 3 months and asks you if (s)he could stay in your spare room (yes, you have one for the sake of this question). Who is it and what is the reason (s)he needs to stay with you?

Even though I know they need to fight, I would probably say Katherine and August from This Savage Song.  I would want to keep them safe.

QUESTION 12:  What is your favorite genre and why?

I’m a huge YA reader.  Yes, I’m grown, but there is just something about YA that draws me in.  I also love the diversity I see that I usually don’t find in as many adult books.  For adult books, I like fantasy and thrillers/suspense/crime.  Anything that gets my attention quickly and makes me think.

 

Since I’m still new to blogging, I don’t really know anyone well enough to tag them.  But please consider yourself tagged if you want to do this one.  Please just let me know (tag me or comment with the link) so I can read your answers, too.

 

 

Digital ARC review of Emma In The Night by Wendy Walker

Emma In The Night by Wendy Walker

Release date August 8th, 2017

Summary:

From the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten comes a thriller about two missing sisters, a twisted family, and what happens when one girl comes back…

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn’t add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister’s return might just be the beginning of the crime.

 

My Thoughts:

Emma In The Night was a suspenseful read.  It’s hard to explain too much about the book without giving the story away.

The book is told in alternating chapters.  One by Cass, the sister who returns, and the other by Dr. Abby Winter.  Abby had a theory three years ago when the girls disappeared.  She saw similar things in Mrs. Martin that she saw in her own mother. Narcissistic personality disorder.  Mrs. Martin is obsessed with people seeing her as the best at everything, the most beautiful, a perfect mother. So much so that she competes with her own daughters.  Abby knows there is something wrong with this family and that there is more to the story Cass is telling her.

Cass tells a story about how she and Emma left together one night and that Emma is still alive and needs to be found.  She tells her story over multiple days in bits and pieces to Abby, her family, and the agent on the case.

Wendy Walker tells an interesting tale back and forth in time which makes you wonder what really happened and who is telling the truth.  Every time I thought I had it figured out, there was something else that made me second guess myself.

I gave this book four stars on goodreads.

I received a digital copy of this book from netgalley for review. This did not affect my thoughts or review at all.

Standalone Sunday

Standalone Sunday was created by Megan@bookslayerreads.   For Standalone Sunday, you pick a standalone book (no series) that you love and share a little about it.  If you don’t have any that you have already read, you can share one from your tbr.

The book I’m choosing this week is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor.

Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Find it here on Goodreads.

The UK cover is different and you can purchase it here.

I’m joining #ARCAUGUST

I just saw this post from YA and Wine hosted by Read Sleep Repeat and thought I would join as soon as my #MakeMeRead readathon is over.

As always here are the rules:

• Any Advanced Reading Copy counts as part of this reading challenge; your backlist books count
• No blog necessary to participate, but you’ll need to include some form of social media as part of your sign up
• Use the #ARCAugust on social media to check-in

I will have to add to this list as I get some more arcs approved (hopefully this week).

The first one I plan to read is a digital copy of The Hollow Girl by Hillary Monahan.

I am waiting on approval for some books and once they are approved, I’ll edit this and add them here.  If I don’t get approved for new ones, I’ll add a couple older arcs that I haven’t gotten around to yet.

7/31 Update:  Just got approved for Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller, so I’m adding that to my list.

8/3  Got this one approved from Negalley today, so adding it to my list.

8/8  Got a few more arcs, so I’m adding them here.

8/8  Another book to add.

 

 

 

Friday 56

Found this one from Freda’s Voice

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

 

“Would-Be Casanova Shakes Cute Girl’s Hand, Offers Her Home Loan with Reasonable Interest Rate.

I shook her hand.  I’m wearing a suit and tie and I shook her hand.

What am I?  A banker?

Who meets a cute girl and shakes her hand?”

First Lines Friday

I saw this post on Mom’s Book Collection and it’s from Wandering Words.

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

 

Adult content warning on mine (swearing).

“People often shit themselves when they die.

Their muscles slack and their souls flutter free and everything else just…slips out.  For all their audience’s love of death, the playwrights seldom mention it.  When our hero breathes his last in his heroine’s arms, they call no attention to the stain leaking across his tights, or how the stink makes her eyes water as she leans in for her farewell kiss.”

 

Scroll down to see what book this is from.

 

 

 

Keep going.

 

 

 

 

A little more.

 

 

 

 

Still a little more.

 

 

 

 

One more time.

 

 

 

 

 

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff.

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

Add this book on goodreads Nevernight.

I’ve been holding off reading this one until the next book comes out this fall.   I’ve heard so many great things about it and can’t wait to get into it.

 

Add me as a friend on goodreads if you want to connect more.  Kristi’s goodreads

Rainbow Book Tag

I found this tag while reading a blog post by Reading Every Night and thought I would give it a try.  I don’t really know anyone enough yet to tag them, so please consider yourself tagged if you want to do this.  Just post the link in the comments so I can see yours.

Rules:

It must be the dominant color of the book, not the spine.

If you do not own a book of the color, just pick one that has the color somewhere on the book cover.

It has to be a book you own and/or has to be the version you read.

Tag other bloggers or booktubers.

RED

Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Orange

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Yellow

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Green

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Blue

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Indigo/Turquoise 

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

Purple

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Pink

10 Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac

Brown

Everland by Wendy Spinale

White

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

Black

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

 

 

Review of Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  Released July 3, 2012 by HarperCollins Children’s Books.  

From Goodreads:

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair…

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn’t believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she’s ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland’s inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she’s always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it’s the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who’s everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Peaches comes a magical and bewitching story of the romance between a fearless heroine and the boy who wouldn’t grow up.

My thoughts:

Lots of emotions in this book.  It’s actually a pretty sad read, but it was really good.  Tiger Lily is kind of a badass and I loved her.  I knew going in that she would get her heartbroken, but I was still hoping for good things to happen to her.

“Let me tell you something straight off.  This is a love story, but not like any you’ve heard. The boy and girl are far from innocent.  Dear lives are lost.  And good doesn’t win.  In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings.  In Neverland, that is not the case.”

The book is told by Tinkerbell who has been following Tiger Lily since she was young. She has this great love for Tiger Lily and always wants to be around her.  Tiger Lily is a Sky Eater who was basically adopted by Tik Tok, their Shaman.  The Sky Eaters never grow old, but they do age to a certain point.  Each one varies.   Some age until their teen years and others until middle age. Tiger Lily is different to the extent that she’s teased by kids and almost feared by adults.  Tik Tok is also different, but the village respects him for the most part, at least for the first half of the book.  Tik Tok is a male, but he doesn’t really relate as one.  He grows his hair long and wears dresses every day.  He is more feminine than Tiger Lily is.

The Sky Eaters have been warned about Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.  They were told that they would kill them.  The pirates are dangerous, but they have a truce with the Sky Eaters.  They pretty much leave them alone, but Captain Hook is obsessed with finding and killing Peter.

Things are going well at home at first.  Tiger Lily has a couple close friends, Pine Sap and Moon Eye.  But everything changes when Tiger Lily helps rescue an Englander.  She is being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want and treated like a slave.  Her fiance, Giant, is a vile person.  (There is a brief mention of sexual assault.)

One day Tiger Lily happens upon Peter and the boys.  Tinkerbell falls for Peter right away, but it takes Tiger Lily a lot longer.  She keeps visiting and eventually falls in love with Peter.  She has to make a choice between being with Peter or being in her home with Tik Tok and Pine Sap.  And then that B Wendy shows up and ruins everything.

I won’t go into too much because even though we know how the story ends, there are still major events that happen along the way. I gave this book 4 stars, maybe 4 1/2.  It’s a pretty quick read with a lot of emotion packed into a small book. 

My most anticipated August releases.

There are quite a few books coming out in August that I’m looking forward to, including one of my most anticipated books of 2017. These are my top ones.

Blight by Alexandra Duncan.  Release date August 1, 2017.

Seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres has lived on the AgraStar farm north of Atlanta since she was found outside the gates at the age of five. Now she’s part of the security force guarding the fence and watching for scavengers—people who would rather steal genetically engineered food from the company than work for it. When a group of such rebels accidentally sets off an explosion in the research compound, it releases into the air a blight that kills every living thing in its path—including humans. With blight-resistant seeds in her pocket, Tempest teams up with a scavenger boy named Alder and runs for help. But when they finally arrive at AgraStar headquarters, they discover that there’s an even bigger plot behind the blight—and it’s up to them to stop it from happening again. A fast-paced action-adventure story that is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake meets Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion.

The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones.  Release date August 8, 2017.

When Dee Moreno makes a deal with a demon—her heart in exchange for an escape from a disastrous home life—she finds the trade may have been more than she bargained for. And becoming “heartless” is only the beginning. What lies ahead is a nightmare far bigger, far more monstrous than anything she could have ever imagined.

With reality turned on its head, Dee has only a group of other deal-making teens to keep her grounded, including the charming but secretive James Lancer. And as something grows between them amid an otherworldy ordeal, Dee begins to wonder: Can she give someone her heart when it’s no longer hers to give?

The Bakersville Dozen by Kristina McBride.  Release date August 8, 2017.

Back in September, the town of Bakersville, Ohio made national news when a video went viral featuring thirteen of the high school’s elite in compromising positions. Now it’s May, and every month since the “Bakersville Dozen” made their infamous appearance on the national stage, one girl has gone missing. Officials are no closer to identifying the criminal.

Bailey “Like a Virgin” Holzman is getting really fed up with the scrutiny. She just wants to enjoy the rest of her senior year and have an epic summer before heading off to college. So when she discovers a note in her locker on the last day of school inviting her on a scavenger hunt, she thinks it’s just a sweet surprise from her boyfriend trying to cheer her up.

But following the clue leads her, instead, to the first official casualty. And another sinister envelope. The killer is close, and it could be anyone. Even the people Bailey’s always trusted most—her best friend, her perfect boyfriend, or the boy-next-door she’s always pined for.

With the clock ticking, she faces a terrifying choice: play the game by the killer’s rules—follow the clues, tell no one, and no cops—for a chance to save the rest of the missing girls, or risk becoming the next grisly victim.

A Map For Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor.  Release date August 15, 2017.

We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We’d been so sure someone would find us by now.

Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.

I’d trusted Henri more than I’d trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I’d follow.

Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart.

For the first time, I was afraid we’d die on this shore.

To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?

Wicked Like A Wildfire by Lana Popvic.  Release date August 15, 2017.

All the women in Iris and Malina’s family have the unique magical ability or “gleam” to manipulate beauty. Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscope visions into glasswork, while Malina interprets moods as music. But their mother has strict rules to keep their gifts a secret, even in their secluded sea-side town. Iris and Malina are not allowed to share their magic with anyone, and above all, they are forbidden from falling in love.

But when their mother is mysteriously attacked, the sisters will have to unearth the truth behind the quiet lives their mother has built for them. They will discover a wicked curse that haunts their family line—but will they find that the very magic that bonds them together is destined to tear them apart forever?

Dress Codes For Small Towns by Courtney C Stevens.  Release date August 22, 2017.

As the tomboy daughter of the town’s preacher, Billie McCaffrey has always struggled with fitting the mold of what everyone says she should be. She’d rather wear sweats, build furniture, and get into trouble with her solid group of friends: Woods, Mash, Davey, Fifty, and Janie Lee.

But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she’s in love with Woods, Billie’s filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods…and maybe with Janie Lee, too.

Always considered “one of the guys,” Billie doesn’t want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. So she keeps her conflicting feelings to herself, for fear of ruining the group dynamic. Except it’s not just about keeping the peace, it’s about understanding love on her terms—this thing that has always been defined as a boy and a girl falling in love and living happily ever after. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it’s not that simple.

Readers will be drawn to Billie as she comes to terms with the gray areas of love, gender, and friendship, in this John Hughes-esque exploration of sexual fluidity.

Wonder Woman:  Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo.  Release date August 29, 2017.

She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

The Dazzling Heights by Katherine McGee.  Release date August 29, 2017.

New York City, 2118. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible – if you want it enough.

Manhattan is home to a thousand-story supertower, a beacon of futuristic glamour and high-tech luxury… and to millions of people living scandalous, secretive lives.

Leda is haunted by nightmares of what happened on the worst night of her life. She’s afraid the truth will get out – which is why she hires Watt, her very own hacker, to keep an eye on all of the witnesses for her. But what happens when their business relationship turns personal?

When Rylin receives a scholarship to an elite upper-floor school, her life transforms overnight. But being here also means seeing the boy she loves: the one whose heart she broke, and who broke hers in return.

Avery is grappling with the reality of her forbidden romance – is there anywhere in the world that’s safe for them to be together?

And then there’s Calliope, the mysterious, bohemian beauty who’s arrived in New York with a devious goal in mind – and too many secrets to count.

Here in the Tower, no one is safe – because someone is watching their every move, someone with revenge in mind. After all, in a world of such dazzling heights, you’re always only one step away from a devastating fall….

 

What are your most anticipated releases for August (any genre)?  Comment below and let me know.  I’m always looking for more recommendations.