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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

[Top Ten Tuesday] Books For Adults Who've Never Read YA

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

Top 10 Books For Adults Who've Never Read YA

I'm almost 30!!!! There's a lot of talk around "adults" (I refuse to claim this title... haha) who read YA. There are definitely skeptical adults who have yet to read YA. Well... for all the doubters here are my recommendations for those who've yet to read YA. 

in no particular order

 
For a candid look at living with a disability, parenting a child with a disability and the realities of high school and college. Life can happen to anyone.

Whether an adult or a teen this book is packed with feels... even if you're tired of hearing about it.

I gave this read to my father as a gift when I was in high school. I know he was thoroughly confused. He spent a lot of time wondering if I was trying to tell him something... while that's not the case it did open up some conversations and he realized that life is hard, even for teenagers.

Great book and reminiscent of a time some adults can still remember. The narrator is Death and he tells a story that is written beautifully while bringing forward harsh realities for everyone involved in Germany WWII.

The aftermath of becoming a reality TV star as a child. Kind of scary and heartbreaking, a cautionary tale of documenting life every step of the way.

A hott mess doesn't mean that's the end. 

An awesome family story in a time of healing. Stick together!

There are dragons! And swords! Epic fantasy!

If by chance you escaped high school without reading this... read it! Great look at how innocence can easily be lost in group think and fear.

The most epic fantasy published in recent history. The number of adult fans is countless so hop on the bandwagon!


Talk to me:

Who's missing from this list? What YA book do you think every adult should read?


Sunday, August 3, 2014

YA Entertainment #4: Book Subscriptions, LeakyCon and Other Book News

YA Entertainment is a weekly feature looking at book, movie and tv news.

I'm a hott mess this week!! August has snuck into my life and I'm totally unprepared. Working in higher ed this means I have no life until Labor Day!! Students move-in in 9 days and classes start in 14. Some things

Book Subscriptions

This week I saw a post about a new YA book subscription service called Uppercase. For $29 a month you can get a new YA book plus a book related goodie, free shipping. For $35/mo. you get a personalized book pick. The service was founded by YA book blogger Lisa over at Read. Breath. Relax.

I've noticed a huge shift in mail order subscriptions in general. I've tested a lot of them myself including Just Fab and Graze, among others. There are other book subscription services out there as well though Book Riot and some indie sellers, What you do you think of book subscriptions? 

Bits of Bookish News

LeakyCon Happened... 
So I have never been to LeakyCon and this year I was so jealous! Mostly because of the flair... I mean, just look at it O_O 


Movie Trailer of the Week
Into the Woods – Dec. 25, 2014
Featuring Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt and Chris Pine


Talk to Me:
Do you use subscription box services? What are some of your favorites? 

Did you go to LeakyCon? Tell me about it!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #20: July 27 – August 2


This week has been insane at work at has affected my reading on a whole other level! My favorite part of the weekend is reading undisturbed for hours and hours :)

This week on the blog I reviewed The Young World by Chris Weitz, Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu and A Hole in My Heart by Rie Charles.

There are a number of giveaways going on to so click the links above to enter!

This is what I added to the shelves this week...


click cover photos for Goodreads

In the Mail


Thanks for the book love from the Macmillan family! I've been really looking forward to Sway which I missed at BEA and had a cover makeover done. I haven't read Love in the Time of Global Warming, which is book one to The Island of Excess Love but I'm going to find it! 


This read came from Andye over at Reading Teen! Look out for my guest post in the near future. 
When Andye offered to let me review this book I was super stoked because we're starting with swoons on the cover and there's music to be loved. 

 
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Read it. Loved it. So when the special UK edition crossed my path, I HAD to have it! It's pink, with page printing, a ribbon bookmark, an AMAZBALLS naked cover, and special Emergency Dance Party poster inside of the jacket. I'm totally in love, and it was SOOOOO worth the month wait to get it delivered from across the pond. 

Digital Review Copies

 
  
 

Lots of HarperCollins 2015 love this week! I'm really excited about these picks. I also picked up another Nobrow graphic novel and a back edition of I Hunt Killers, the first in a series.


What did you add to your shelf this week?



Friday, August 1, 2014

[Review] A Hole in My Heart by Rie Charles

Pre-Order on Amazon or The Book Depository

Title: A Hole in My Heart
Author: Rie Charles (Website)
Publisher: Dundurn
Genre: Middle Grades - Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: September 1, 2014 
Format: eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis via Goodreads:

After losing her mother to illness and her father to his work, Nora Mackenzie must leave her home in the interior of B.C. for a North Vancouver school. Estranged from her classmates, her family, and the life she's lost, Nora walls herself off from the people around her. At the same time, her young cousin, Lizzie, is facing an uncertain future as one of the first children to undergo open-heart surgery. As the operation approaches, Nora discovers that she is not the only person in her family isolated by fear and grief.


This was not an easy read for me. I found myself wanting to speed up just to get through the pages and see what the point was. Personally, I did not connect with the characters even though I did feel that the overall message was 1) an important one for the reading age group and 2) the message was displayed in more than one scenario. 

Through Nora we're able to meet a variety of characters who are each coping or working through their grief. I did appreciate this approach because I feel like sometimes, especially as tweens/teens, we feel alone in processing pain and that others would not understand. What we learn is that while it may come in many forms the idea of pain/grief is universal and we all handle it differently. 

I do wish more emotion and character development would've taken place. There were points in the story where I was like, "who's that?" because I had forgotten the character's introduction, it was brief and unfocused, and subsequently their tie-in to the overall story line. For dealing with such heavy topics I was not feeling the feels.

2 Stars: I would recommend this for 10-12 year old readers who are dealing
with any type of pain, loneliness,  and/or grief.
 






[Giveaway] Beach Reads In August Hop


I love to read at the beach but I must have the following for maximum comfort:

Lounge Chair
Sunglasses
Paperback Books
Beverage
Snacks

With the above I'm set for the day, earlier this summer I got caught up reading Breath, Annie, Breath and ended up uber sunburned... so let's add sunscreen to the list too! I'm really lucky that the beach is a little over two hours from my house. One Sunday I woke up and drove as far east as I could. This is where I ended up... 


My Beach Reads Picks

For me, the perfect beach read is light but thought provoking with lots of warm and fuzzy feels and minimal crying feels. There's no ugly crying at the beach... haha. 

   


The giveaway is for your choice of paperback up to $10. 
Open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships for free. Check out the rules here.
Any cheating will null all entries.



Visit all of the blogs to win all the books! Keep on hopping...




Thanks for stopping by and good luck!