REVIEW Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

Title: Pretty Girl-13
Author: Liz Coley
Format: Hardback
Source: Bought
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

REVIEW: Not for the faint of heart! But definitely for someone who is looking for a YA book that is out of the oridinary. I found this book so unique and emotional and that made it extremely hard for me to put down. I devoured this book in one day.

Angie comes back three years after being abducted when she was  thirteen and no time has passed for her. While three years have passed for everyone else, Angie still thinks she is thirteen and has no memories of her abduction.

Books hardly ever focus on mental disorders or any other touchy subject around those lines. BUT this book focus's on a mental disorder, incest, abuse and many other topics that, as I stated before, are NOT for the faint of heart but the author was brave enough to touch on them.

Out of all of the alters I think Lonely One has to be my favorite with Angel being a close second. Girl Scout just seemed too whiny and Tattletale was too damaged and my heart bled for her.

I have read a few reviews and saw that a bunch of people said the book was predictable. I would love to know where they got that notion. I couldn't predict anything in this book and when I thought I did have something predicted it turned out completely different and I absolutely loved that!

This is a very spooky and heart-wrenching read. Girls are kidnapped everyday but most of them never live to tell their story. Although fiction, I still believe this is what it would be like for a kid who did get to go back home after being kidnapped and held for years.

I do think that Angie could have been a bit more emotional towards the end. I think she held things together a little bit too perfectly. A normal person would have had a breakdown at some point.

The decision to not take Sammy was a very mature choice that I am glad Angie made.

Overall, I gave the book 4 out of 5 Kitties.

Nerd Art FORSALE

Aside from reading I have other hobbies and one of them is pixel art. I can make almost anything out of the beads I use and I would love to sell a few piece to save up for moving. My family has been very rocky and with how my parents are my fiance and I need to move ASAP before we lose out place to live. I will post a few pictures of the stuff I have made for reference. I do have an Etsy store so every sale will go through there. I will also include a rough price list below as well. Remember, these are just examples of things I have made. I can do other stuff.

pieces this size would be about $5 each. (3.5inchx2.5inch)

Earring sets are $5.

 Keychains are $3-5 depending on what it is.

Pokebadge sets are $20 each. These were my hottest item at conventions. These can either be magnets or just plain so you can use them how you want.

These would be about $8 each

These are pretty big so they would be about $12 each or 2 for $20.

He would be about $20 Other pokemon made like him would range from $18-$25.

These are just some other things I've made. I have sold many pieces and do custom work. Buyer must pay shipping and all transactions will be done through Etsy. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask in the comments or email me. My email is on the side of the blog.

REVIEW: The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Title: The Beginning of Everything
Author: Robyn Schneider
Format: Paperback
Source: ARC
Publisher: Katherine Tegen

REVIEW: The first thing I want to say about this book is... If you are a fan of Looking For Alaska then this is the book for you. Cassidy could be Alaska's sister.

With that said, I didn't like this book very much. I didn't exactly HATE it but there just wasn't anything that stuck out to me that would make this book memorable aside from catching a human head on a roller-coaster.

Ezra, no matter how much I like his name, isn't a very deep character. I did not connect with him one bit. He was a depressed little twerp and needed a reality check. Life goes on, stop wallowing in self pity.

Cassidy is a bitch. There really isn't a much better word to describe her. She's sneaky, manipulative and sketchy as hell. She has some good times, like on the swings, but mostly she just has mental problems.

I did like that fact that Toby and Ezra became friends again.

The only other thing I really enjoyed about this book were the douchenisms. Yes, I made that word up. Basically there were a ton of douche-whatever names throughout the book and it made me laugh because guys definitely say that stuff.

The book was well written and planned out, I just didn't feel any connection to the book or the characters.

Overall, I gave the book 2/5 Kitties.

REVIEW Easy by Tammara Webber

Title: Easy
Author: Tammara Webber
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Publisher: Berkley

REVIEW: I have been wanting this book for a while. I had it on my wishlist and just never picked it up. I finally found it a week ago and I am so glad I did. I normally never instantly read the books I buy. They usually get put on the shelves and added to my TBR pile but something pulled me to this book so I picked it up the day I bought it(putting down the book I was currently reading). And, boy, am I glad I did.

This book is categorized under the New Adult genre that just recently started. The first book I ever read in the genre was
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen and I found myself really enjoying the step over the YA line.

Easy is definitely a step over the YA line with characters under the age of 25. There is sex and profanity and there is ACTUALLY a plot. I have read a few New Adult books and about 75% of them can be labeled as "smut" or shoved into the category with Fifty Shade of Grey. Not this book. Yes, there is sex. BUT there is a whole entire plot that the sex is incorporated into. There is heartbreak, school, jobs, and REAL LIFE situations that make this book entirely believable and so much more enjoyable than just some BSDM kink.

The book is based around a very touchy subject that some people might not be comfortable reading about so please look at the reviews if you do not like certain sexual subjects.

Jacqueline is the the protagonist. She is suffering after a terrible break-up and just to add insult to injury she is attacked by a guy from her ex's fraternity. Lucky for her Lucas was there to save the day.

After reading the book I did find a few parts that I didn't like. The shallowness of the girls for one. I also find it funny that Jacqueline was judging Benji by his looks yet they become very close towards the end. There was a lot of shallow points in the book but I guess that's what most people are like.

I completely adored Lucas. He has his quirks and hid a few things from Jacqueline but he had morals.

The entire flow of the book was just really lovely and not at all rushed. Nothing seemed fake and the character relationships were well built. This book just shows that no matter how bad the situation is, good things can still happen and life goes on.

I am SOOOO glad that Jacqueline didn't fall for Kennedy's bullcrap and I'm glad she ended up where she did.

Overall, I gave the book 5/5 Kitties.

Stacking the Shelves(14)

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

 

I don't now why I buy so many books. But I can't say I regret anything. I got over 90 books in the past 2-3 weeks. I have no more shelf space and have taken to making some shelves two books deep. I hope you enjoy my haul!

 

 

  And this is the overall view of my books. I got some Hello Kitty book ends and some candles from Bath & Body Works. I had a pretty good past few weeks.

 

 

 

REVIEW Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony

Title: Chopsticks
Author: Jessica Anthony
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Publisher: Razorbill

REVIEW: I have seen this book around the book blogging community and also the booktube community and have heard nothing but good things about it. I saw the book and decided "What the hell?" so I picked it up. This isn't a written book so much as it is a visual one. You need to have an open mind when you start this book or you won't be able to fully grasp the wonder that is Chopsticks.

Gloria(Glory) is an amazing pianist and her father pushes her to do more than she wants with her talent. Frank moves in next door to her and they form a bond. The book takes you through Gloria's disappearance and in the end, if you read and understand the pictures correctly, the book shows you exactly what happened to her.

I loved the overall concept of this book. Sometimes pictures do say a thousand words but only if you pay close attention. There is so much more to this book than I have written but I don't want to give too much away. This book is something that you must figure out and understand on your own. I want to thank the author for thinking outside the box and coming up with something so completely unique.

Overall, I gave the book 5/5 Kitties.

The Fall blog hop giveaway (September 23-27)

I believe this is hosted by Good Choice Reading. I love fall!! I love everything about fall. I especially love curling up with a good book, drinking some tea and staying warm.

I am giving away ONE(1) of the following books to one lucky winner. The first 3 books are HARDBACK. The last book is paperback.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK!!

Tackle your TBR Read-A-Thon

I know I am WAYYY late on this. I was just too lazy to make a post for it and I also kept forgetting about it. I am going to make this more personal and expand the end date for September 30th. I hope to get at least 8 books read this month in total. So far I have 4, working on 5.

Now, I'm terrible at reading set lists, so please keep that in mind. I am going to make a ROUGH list of what I want to read before the month is over. Don't hold it against me if I fail or am lead astray.

THE LIST:

TBR:
Haven by Kristi Cook
The Secret of Laurel Oaks by Lois Ruby

READ:
The Last Academy by Anne Applegate - 09/11/13
The Beautiful and the Damned by Jessica Verday 09/13/13
Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony - 09/21/13
Easy by Tammara Webber - 09/24/13
The Beginning of Everything by Robin Schneider - 09/25/2013

This is what I hope to accomplish. I also hope to read at least one more book. If I read more then that is awesome!

Dystopian Giveaway Blog Hop (November 1-7) US ONLY

I decided to go ahead and join this hop because Dystopian happens to be one of my favorite subjects for YA books. This hope is hosted by My Shelf Confessions & I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. If you wish to join the hop please visit one of the hosts pages.

For this giveaway I will be offering two(2) paperback books to one(1) lucky winner. Those two books are...

 

 Use the RaffleCopter form below to enter. Good luck everyone! And thank you for participating in the hop! This giveaway also happens to end on my 4 year anniversary with my fiance. So that's a plus!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves(13)

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

I have a lot more books that this to post but the 2 boxes of books I ordered aren't here yet and I already put some away on the shelves and don't feel like getting them right now so I will either post those next week or not at all hehe. The first picture is what I got at 2nd & Charles today(9/14/13) and the other 2 pictures are the books I got at my local library sale on Thursday(9/12/13).

AND I got a new bookshelf when I came back from vacation and it is already entirely dominated by books!

REVIEW The Beautiful and the Damned by Jessica Verday

Title: The Beautiful and the Damned
Author: Jessica Verday
Format: ARC eBook
Source: Edelweiss
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publishing Date: October 1st 2013

REVIEW: This book was short, sweet and to the point and that isn't a bad thing. It was a fairly quick read but it still held a lot of detail and action and I thoroughly enjoyed that. I am the kind of person who hates when authors drag out books, 500 page books that could have been written better in under 300 pages.

The story was your typical bad boy saves the day story with a love triangle, if that's what you want to call what happened at the end, and supernatural aspect thrown in. What made this book stand out to me was probably the creativity of the characters. There was definitely no instant, just add water, romance which made the book much more interesting. Cyn didn't just immediately fall for the bad guy, Avian(Thirteen), and Avian didn't just immediately fall for Cyn. They were both burdened with things from their past and the author really made them see like real people with real problems.

The action and supernatural parts of the book were creative too. There wasn't just vampires coming out and biting people. There were Hellhounds, demons and plain ordinary humans. I loved the way that Avian was different from the others of his kind. He used his powers for good when he could have turned bad and killed everyone. I think Father Montgomery had a lot to do with how Avian turned out.

The violence and language were perfectly represented for a Young Adult book. I get sick of people complaining if they see a cuss word in a book like this. These books are meant for YOUNG ADULTS not immature little kids who should still be reading The Baby-Sitter Club.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I gave it 4/5 Kitties.

REVIEW The Last Academy by Anne Applegate

Title: The Last Academy
Author: Anne Applegate
Format: Hardback
Source: Library
Publisher: Point/Scholastic

REVIEW: Holy hell the creativity that went into this book sweeps me off of my feet. I had no idea what to expect in the end but it definitely wasn't what I got. I love how completely different this book is from anything I have ever read before. Most academy books are about vampires and sex scandals so I was a little weary about reading this book but I am so glad that I picked it up. This book also puts into perspective a whole new spin on "ghosts".

Camden really doesn't seem too much like a normal girl. I mean she definitely has issues with peers and everything but just something about her struck me as odd. She was scared of everything yet she was very brave.

I really enjoyed how the romance wasn't copious but wasn't shy. I really enjoy when the girl gets the guy she likes.

The way the author kept the Academy so much like a real school experience was very nice. It kept me in suspense.

Barnaby Charon was a very scary and mysterious character. He seemed sort of nice in the end but throughout the book he was cryptic and made my skin crawl. When he gave Camden the book I found that highly interesting. Finding out what happened to everyone really brought the book together.

Camden made the right choice in crossing over. I had a feeling she was going to end up like Mark. I really hope Mark decided to move on considering he died as a baby and was a teenager in the book.

The book had this very sad depressing feel to it and I always felt like I was about to cry.

Overall, I give the book 5/5 Kitties.

REVIEW Rebel Spirits by Lois Ruby

Title: Rebel Spirits
Author: Lois Ruby
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Publisher: Point/Scholastic










REVIEW: OH... MY... GOD! The entire time I was reading the book I was saying four stars, four stars, four stars. This book is amazing. I've seen such negative things about it and don't understand why. The writing is great and the characters are awesome. Honestly, I cried. I really did. I had to redo my make-up when I was finished.

At first, Lori seems like a sort of distant character with no real personality but as I get a little further in I start to see that she is an amazing girl and is very feisty and definitely doesn't let anyone control her. She is a free spirit.

I could tell that something wasn't quite right with Bertha and Old Dryden. I didn't exactly know what it was until towards the end though so I am glad the book wasn't predictable.

I'm not sure what to say or think about Nathaniel. He is definitely a good guy and what he told Lori at the end of the book was something I didn't expect from him. I thought it was sweet that he loved her but wanted her to live her life to the fullest without him interfering.

I truly wanted Lori to realize that she belonged with Evan. I know there won't be another book but I would love to find out what happens between Lori and Evan.

The action kept you on edge. The mystery kept you guessing. Definitely go pick this up if you are a fan on ghost books with love interests and a good plot.

Overall, I gave the book 5/5 kitties.

REVIEW City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Publisher: McElderry Books


REVIEW: Let me first say that I have owned this book for about five years. I bought it back around the time that I bought the Twilight books BEFORE they became over-hyped. I also READ it five years ago right after I read Twilight. Now, a lot has happened in my life in the five years its been since I read this book and I can definitely say with age comes new perspectives. I don't remember the book being like this and that isn't a bad thing. The only thing I do remember from reading this five years ago was that I kept thinking THIS BOOK would become a movie. Not Twilight. I wasn't entirely wrong. But I just strongly felt that this should have been a movie long before Twilight.

Clary is one of those whiny characters that enrage me. She is that female heroin that everyone wants to smack and say STFU to but I also think she is what makes the book worth reading. Because without her whiny, damsel in distress personality I don't think Jace would have felt the need to always save her, thus, causing the romance between them to be pretty much non-existent. So I am grateful for that.

Jace is also one of those characters you just want to smack. He seems to be messing with Clary's mind and it also seems like he doesn't know what he wants either. He is overly stubborn and thinks he can take on the world.

Alec is a total butt wipe. I have other choice words for him but I want to keep this clean. He is too stuck up his own butt to care about anyone else but himself. He has a huge thing for Jace but being gay is apparently taboo in their "culture". Not that Jace would return the feelings...

Isabelle is pretty kick-ass. She likes to use guys and then rip their hearts out. She is an awesome fighter and she cares deeply for her brother. She also doesn't seem stuck up and prissy like most "hot" girls in YA books.

I really thought Hodge was a good guy. I never expected him to turn bad. I truly thought he loved the kids and wanted to help them.

I really enjoyed the little bit of romance between Clary and Jace. It didn't seem rushed or anything. I actually didn't expect it to happen so it was definitely a good surprise. The references to "incest" that I have been hearing complaints about are completely pointless. I don't mind it at all. It helps build the story and its not like they grew up together knowing they were related.

I'm not sure how I feel about Jocelyn lying to Clary her whole life and "erasing" her memory every two years. I understand Jocelyn thought she was helping her daughter but I think she should have told her to truth just as Valentine should have told Jace the truth.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and the character building was pretty good. The relationships between characters didn't seem forced or rushed and everything seemed to fit together well. The action was spread throughout the book and not just bunched up at the end. I gave the book 4/5 kitties.

Stacking the Shelves(12)/Vacation Haul

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

This is just going to be a huge mix-up haul. Books and vacation items. I only have one book haul video uploaded right now so I will post the others once I am done.

 

I AM BACK!!! Bout of Books 8.0 Wrap-up

Alright guys, I am back. Well, technically, I've been back for a week but my brain was still on vacation. I have two hauls I need to show you guys. The first one will be my vacation haul which includes books and souvenirs and the second haul will be the books I've gotten this past weekend. I still need to upload 3 videos for my vacation haul so I will just be posting pictures for the time being and I also am going to a store tomorrow so my book haul for this weekend wont be shot and uploaded until probably Monday night or sometime Tuesday.

For the bout of books situation... I read 2 books.I was on vacation during the time but I did say I would try. I started like 5 different books as well so now that my brain is finally back to the real world I think my September wrap-up will be pretty big.

The books I read were Hunger Games and Catching Fire. They were both reread for the upcoming release of Catching fire in November. I started City of Bones, My Life Next Door and The Vespertine but I was too busy relaxing to really care too much to read. I am almost done City of Bones finally.