In My Mailbox (April 29, 2012)

In My Mailbox credit goes to The Story Siren

For Review:

Between the Lines by Jodi Picout & Samantha Van Leer | Goodreads

Never Enough by Denise Jaden | Goodreads

Surrender by Elana Johnson | Goodreads 

The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent | Goodreads

Burn For Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian | Goodreads

Envy by Elizabeth Miles | Goodreads

Rotters by Daniel Kraus (not pictured above) | Goodreads

Bought:

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Matched by Ally Condie

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

Water For Elepants by Sarah Gruen

Gift:



Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (Not pictured here, because it's upstairs where I read it!)

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster for the lovely package of books, thanks Random House for keeping me on top of my book club, and thanks to my family for my book and letting me spend a bit of money at our favourite used book shops!

In My Mailbox (March 25, 2012)

In My Mailbox credit goes to The Story Siren

 

 

Bought:

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Books 7-9

 

 

For Review:

BZRK by Michael Grant | Goodreads Synopsis
The Reckoning (The Taker, #2) by Alma Katsu | Goodreads Synopsis

419 by Will Ferguson | Goodreads Synopsis

Thank you Random House and Simon & Schuster once again!

Have a great reading week!

Book Review: The Taming by Eric Walters & Teresa Toten

Publish Date: January 24 2012
Publisher: DoubleDay Canada
Pages: 229
ISBN: 978-0-385-67658-8
Series: None
Source: Online book club

RandomHouse Synopsis: (because Goodreads in down!)

It is the power of love, or a love of power?

Katie likes to believe she’s invisible. It seems so much safer than being exposed as who she is: shy, poor, and vulnerable. So getting up in front of audience as the lead in her school’s production of The Taming of the Shrew should be complete torture. But as Katie tells it, something totally unexpected happened when she stepped on stage: “My head exploded. I loved it. Acting hit me like a sucker punch and I loved, loved, loved it! Invisible Katie became visible Katherina.”
Evan is, as they say, another story. He knows just what it takes to get noticed, and he uses every one of the skills he’s perfected from years of being the new kid at yet another new school. Rich, smart, and ridiculously charming, he’s like nothing and no one Katie has ever encountered. How then could someone like him possibly be interested in someone like her? But before she knows it they are inseparable. Over the dizzying course of their relationship, Katie must confront the fact that the power of love can conceal darker truths.

My Review:
Starting The Taming, I thought I was in for some teenage high school love story. The cover, and the synopsis set me up with those expectations. Katie, is a young girl who has done so much to become invisible in high school, to NOT become one of those "popular" girls. To her, she is as invisible as you can get. Until she becomes the lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and she sees that she loves the stage, she was meant for it. People start noticing her. No longer is Katie invisible.
Evan, the new guy from a prep school, who let me be honest here sounded like a great guy! He has the clothes, the car, the money and along with that, the nonchalant attitude; I mean he throws his car keys to the first kid he meets in school, saying "hey, take it! It's got a full tank!". Everybody notices Evan, he has that for him. But there is so much more to Evan than we're lead to believe.
Evan meets Katie, and things spark between them, and now more than ever, Katie is as noticeable. For Katie, this is all new. The lead in the play, the noticing and more importantly, the boyfriend. She has spent so much time with just herself and her two odd, quirky but very good friends and now all of a sudden she has this guy who can't get enough of her, is willing to take her on dates (and pay himself). He's buying her clothes that he thinks will suit her, telling her what her favourite flowers are and so on. Katie is in heaven. Then things start happening, and without giving too much away, from past situations, Katie blames herself for these events. This is where the book took the turn I was not expecting. Secrets are revealed and more secrets are kept and The Taming becomes a haunting story. So many times I wanted to yell through the pages at Katie or Evan (or their parents!) and try to help them. I felt so bad for Katie, and honestly, as the book went on I felt for Evan too. The things they had / have to endure separately with their family was heart breaking.
Walters and Toten collaborated with this book. Walters writing the POV of Evan and Toten writing the POV of Katie. I think it was really well done, their story tied really well with The Taming of the Shrew and flowed nicely. I have never read a book from either of these authors, but have heard wonderful things about Eric Walters. And after reading his writing in this, it may not be the last. The emotion and thought put behind each character was obvious. The character development was clearly there and the plot moved along smoothly with the said unexpected twist. My overall thoughts on the book? Well, apart from throwing me completely for a loop, it was addicting. I felt that if I kept reading, I could help them and because of that, I read it without hesitation. I enjoyed The Taming, and the way Katie changed drastically and became aware made it that much better.

Book Review: My Beating Teenage Heart by C.K Kelly Martin

Publish Date: September 27th, 2011
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288
Series: None
ISBN: 9780375868859
Source: From online book club

Goodreads Synopsis:
Ashlyn Baptiste is falling. One moment she was nothing—no memories, no self—and then suddenly, she's plummeting through a sea of stars. Is she in a coma? She doesn't remember dying, and she has no memories of the life she left behind. All she knows is that she's trapped in a consciousness without a body and she's spending every moment watching a stranger.
Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breathe. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.
Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers. In alternating voices of the main characters, My Beating Teenage Heart paints a devastatingly vivid picture of both the heartbreak and the promise of teenage life—a life Ashlyn would do anything to recover and Breckon seems desperate to destroy—and will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, and David Levithan.

My Review:
What an interesting book! At first I was pretty confused to tell you the truth. My Beating Teenage Heart is about this boy, Breckon who has lost his sister and his journey through dealing with that, and Ashlyn, a girl who is watching over Breckon for reasons unknown to her.
Right away I feel bad for Breckon. The loss of his younger sister takes quite the toll on him and he's unsure how to act and get through this. Unfortunately, his family doesn't seem to be overly helpful at times because they are still coming to terms with things as well. For me, I really feel for characters who have to deal with situations like the death of a family member. Thankfully, I have never had to deal with anything like that and since I have a very tight knit family, I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened.
Along with Breckon's narration of My Beating Teenage Heart, we are reading through Ashlyn's point of view. She understands that she is either dead or in a coma, realizing something is wrong with her situation she tries her hardest to remember her life and memories. All while doing that, she is looking over Breckon, who is spiralling downward in his own attempt to deal, and trying to make him understand and realize that she is there for him. (Though she does not know why she's been sent to Breckon and not her own family).
I really did enjoy this book. The change of POV's between the two main characters was enjoyable. The story was original and C.K. Kelly Martin is a good writer. She can get the reader interested in her book and pull the reader in for more. For example, we know right away that Breckon's sister died, nothing is explained up front we just get little more information here and there and it isn't until the end that we really read what happened. Also, we wonder how Breckon and Ashlyn are connected, and it isn't until the end that we find out. But it's done in a way that the story is spread out, and we don't just get hit with a whack of explaination at the end, it's written so well that that doesn't happen.
Overall, My Beating Teenage Heart was a heartfelt read that I enjoyed. The story, the writing and the characters are all worth it, and made for an "unputdownble" book!