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July 24, 2014

Life Of A Blogger: Quirks

Life Of A Blogger is hosted by the fabulous Jessi from Novel Heartbeat where we let people know more about our lives outside of blogging so they can get to know us better!

I can’t think of many quirks I have at the moment, but believe me, I do have a lot of quirks.

My one bookish quirk is that I have to own two or more copies of my most favorite books or books with a gorgeous cover that I love. Latest example: I have multiple copies of Sarah Maas’ books including the hardcovers, paperbacks, ARC, and even the UK edition because I just love the books so much. I also recently just bought the UK edition of Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door even though I already have the US edition.
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Filed Under: life of a blogger

July 23, 2014

Till It Arrives: Beware The Wild – Natalie C. Parker

Till It Arrives is inspired by Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner’s Save the Date feature. Sometimes I read books that are not released anytime soon, but I want to share some of my feelings on the book right away, so Till It Arrives is born! (It also allows me to read books that appear later in my schedule, so that’s awesome too.) Since I don’t usually use GIFs in my reviews, I thought I’ll use plenty of GIFs to describe my feelings for the book I’m talking about in this feature!

Beware The Wild
Author: Natalie C. Parker
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

A southern gothic novel with a twist reminiscent of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures
It’s an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp – the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn’t return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed.
Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp’s done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance – and loner boy Heath Durham might be the only one who can help her.
This debut novel is full of atmosphere, twists and turns, and a swoon-worthy romance.

First Sentence: It’s no secret, ours is the meanest swamp in Louisiana.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
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Posted by Kelly 4 Comments
Filed Under: 2014 book, till it arrives

July 20, 2014

ARC Book Review: On The Fence – Kasie West

On The Fence
Author: Kasie West
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds,
aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows – including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn’t know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she’s spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.
To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can’t solve Charlie’s biggest problem: she’s falling for Braden. Hard. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

First Sentence: The engine whined against my attempt to go faster.

My Review:

Almost everybody I know loves Kasie West’s books. Her books, however, are either a hit or a miss for me. I loved, loved, absolutely loved Split Second (it is one of my favorite books of 2014 and one of the two 5-star books I gave this year) while The Distance Between Us, the sort of companion novel to On The Fence, failed to impress me much. I didn’t know how I’ll feel about On The Fence when I first started it – all I was really hoping for was for it to impress me more than The Distance Between Us did. I didn’t want to be the only person disappointed with a book that everyone else loved. Imagine my surprise when I actually did enjoy reading On The Fence.

On The Fence is nothing but adorable. It’s a light fluffy book that had me laughing at times and smiling like a fool at other times. I just couldn’t put On The Fence down – I was reading it while I was out browsing the Apple store, reading it while I was walking, reading it while I was on the subway standing without a pole in sight to hold onto, and reading it in the dim light even though it practically made me blind. I literally breezed through On The Fence in three hours. I just couldn’t get enough of it in my life.

“Almost as if I have two lives.”
…
“This life, our fence life. And then our day life.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Why do we do that? Why do we pretend during the day that this doesn’t happen?” (ARC 159)

I absolutely love the family moments between Charlie and her brothers. Charlie’s brothers were hilarious and I adored their relationship with Charlie. Charlie’s brothers genuinely cared for her and I just couldn’t help but admire that kind of brother-sister relationship, especially after hearing and witnessing all my female friends’ non-existent relationships with their brothers. I constantly found myself wishing that I had older brothers like Charlie’s while I was reading On The Fence. I would beg, borrow, or steal for brothers like Charlie’s.

Unlike The Distance Between Us, I definitely felt the chemistry between Charlie and Braden in On The Fence. Their romance were just so sweet and they just get each other so much that I couldn’t help but cheer for both of them. Their relationship was basically perfect and I was still thinking about them hours after I was finished with On The Fence, wishing that I had a relationship like theirs. Too bad I don’t have a cute neighbor that lives next door.

“I thought you weren’t going to tell me.”
…
He propped himself up on his elbow. “Wait. What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about?” (ARC 273)

I don’t know if you guys know this because I certainly didn’t, but there was a short Caymen moment in On The Fence. If you guys don’t know or forgot who Caymen is, Caymen is the main character in Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us. I practically flailed in excitement when Caymen made her appearance.

Overall, On The Fence definitely did impress me. I just want to hug the book all day and think about Charlie and Braden together. Excuse me while I reread my favorite parts again…