In My Mailbox (34)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is a way for book bloggers to post what they have received for review, borrowed from a friend, bought at the bookstore, or picked up at the library!

It has been far too long since my last IMM post and people, SO MUCH has happened since then!!! I went to the RT Convention, bought a few new books, and pretty much just accumulated quite a large list for this IMM post! Take a look, add onto Goodreads, let me know what you think, and of course link up so I can see what lovely books you got in your mailbox!

RT Convention:

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong- Won

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout- Previously owned but now signed

Enclave by Ann Aguirre- Won & signed

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams- Bought & signed (by 2/3 of the co-authors)

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes- Previously owned but now signed

Chime by Franny Billingsley- Previously owned but now signed

Sirenz by Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo- Previously owned but now signed

Swag from Jennifer L. Armentrout, Ivy Adams, Natalie Zaman, Charlotte Bennardo, Jeanette Battista

Eve by Anna Carey- Bought & signed

Heist Society by Ally Carter- Previously owned but now signed

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter- Won & signed

The Summerland by Elizabeth Cheryl- Won & signed

Oh. My Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs- Previously owned but now signed

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore- Bought & signed

Haven by Kristi Cook- Bought & signed

The Guardian by Carey Corp- Bought & signed

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting- Bought & signed

Swag from Anna Carey, Elizabeth Cheryl, Tera Lynn Childs, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Carey Corp, Kimberly Derting, Bree Despain, Kiera Cass, Rachel Caine, Ally Condie

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl- Previously owned but now signed

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl- Previously owned but now signed

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl- Previously owned but now signed

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand- Previously owned but now signed

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand- Bought & signed

Hearts At Stake by Alyxandra Harvey- Won

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy Holder- Previously owned but now signed

Wicked: Resurrection by Nancy Holder- Previously owned but now signed

Swag from Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Cynthia Hand, Nancy Holder, Jennifer Estep, Colleen Houck

Firelight by Sophie Jordan- Previously owned but now signed

Hidden by Sophie Jordan- Won

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade- Previously owned but now signed

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade- Previously owned but now signed

Body and Soul by Stacey Kade- Previously owned but now signed

Phantom Universe by Laura Kreitzer- Bought & signed

Forsaken Harbor by Laura Kreitzer- Bought & signed

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert- Bought & signed

Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert- Bought & signed

Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel- Previously owned but now signed

Torn by Erica O’Rourke- Bought & signed

Swag from Sophie Jordan, Stacey Kade, Stephanie Kuehnert, Alyson Noel, Erica O’Rourke, Emily McKay, Michele Jaffe, S.R. Johannes, Saundra Mitchell, Mari Mancusi

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins- Previously owned but now signed

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins- Previously owned but now signed

Die For Me by Amy Plum- Bought & signed

Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- Bought & signed

Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors- Previously owned but now signed

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready- Previously owned but now signed

Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready- Previously owned but now signed

Soul Screamers: Vol. 1 by Rachel Vincent- Won

Swag from Stephanie Perkins, Amy Plum, Veronica Rossi, Suzanne Selfors, Jeri Smith-Ready, Sarah Rees Brennan, E.J. Stevens, Beth Revis

Review:

Promise by Kristie Cook (e-book)

My Thoughts: I got this book for a blog tour I am participating in later this month! I can’t wait to read!

Silver Knight by Caron Rider (e-book)

My Thoughts: I am fascinated by reincarnation so I am excited to see how this one is done.

Casey Barnes Eponymous by E.A. Rigg (e-book)

My Thoughts: I love, love, love books that have a music influence!

Shift by Kim Curran

My Thoughts: Thanks to Strange Chemistry, a snazzy new publisher for sending out this ARC! I can’t wait to get started on it!

Shackled by Angela Carling

My Thoughts: I read a more “light-hearted” book by Angela last year so I am very interested to see how her more “serious” writing turns out!

Elements: The Beginning by Kate Fuentes (e-book)

My Thoughts: Kate is awesome! I can’t wait to read this one for the blog tour I am participating in later this month!

 Any Love But Mine by Debbie Davies (e-book)

My Thoughts: Nothing is better than a forbidden love story!

Bought:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My Thoughts: I FINALLY HAVE THIS BOOK IN MY POSSESSION!!!!

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

My Thoughts: Do yourself a favor and go buy this book right now!

Blood Born by Jamie Manning

My Thoughts: Jamie is seriously the bees knees! I won this book from Mandie (see below) but decided I needed an actual copy for when Jamie goes on an awesome 10-state tour sometime in the future.

Gifted/Won:

Blood Born by Jamie Manning (e-book)

My Thoughts: Thank you so much to Mandie for this awesome book! I cannot wait to read it!!!!!

Blog Tour + Guest Post: Unbreakable Love by Angela Carling

Hello everyone! I am so honored to be a part of the blog tour for Angela Carling’s book Unbreakable Love! I reviewed this book back in January and I really enjoyed it. You can catch my review of Unbreakable Love by following this link. And now, just a little bit about the book before we get to a special guest post from a very brilliant character!

Title: Unbreakable Love

Author: Angela Carling

Publisher: Acacia Publishing

Jennie Townsend is unlucky in love, so she is immediately suspicious when a mysterious new student named Nate tries to gain her friendship. But there is something special about Nate, and in spite of her best efforts Jennie finds her feelings for the boy growing deeper every day.

In fact, Nate is more special than Jennie can even imagine. He is a guardian angel, sent to protect Jennie during a most dangerous time in her life. To do so, he must first become close to her – but not too close. The rules for Protectors warn against physical contact and strictly forbid falling in love. But the more time Nate spends with Jennie, the harder the rules are to follow. Will Nate be able to save Jennie from a premature end, or will his own emotions – and Jennie’s – get in the way of completing the task for which he was specifically chosen?

With Unbreakable Love, Angela Carling has created a captivating story for young adult readers, with a refreshing twist on relationship issues. It is an ode to the magical power of true love, a tribute to belief in a benevolent higher power that watches over us and surrounds us every day of our lives.

For my stop on the blog tour, I have Kate (great name by the way!), Jennie’s little sister! She is an ambitious little thing and I am so excited to see what she has to say. So without further ado, Kate:

So what did you guys think? I think Kate definitely made some pretty good points on why we should get involved in politics a little bit more. The possibility of a totally hot french guy not liking me because we have an idiot president is a very legit reason at least in my book! I hope you guys enjoyed the post today and don’t forget to add Unbreakable Love to your shelves on Goodreads!

Book Review + Giveaway: Unbreakable Love by Angela Carling

Title: Unbreakable Love

Author: Angela Carling

Publisher: Acacia Publishing

Pages: 220 Paperback

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review. Thanks again!

Jennie Townsend is unlucky in love, so she is immediately suspicious when a mysterious new student named Nate tries to gain her friendship. But there is something special about Nate, and in spite of her best efforts Jennie finds her feelings for the boy growing deeper every day.

In fact, Nate is more special than Jennie can even imagine. He is a guardian angel, sent to protect Jennie during a most dangerous time in her life. To do so, he must first become close to her – buthttps://klt1128.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2994&action=edit not too close. The rules for Protectors warn against physical contact and strictly forbid falling in love. But the more time Nate spends with Jennie, the harder the rules are to follow. Will Nate be able to save Jennie from a premature end, or will his own emotions – and Jennie’s – get in the way of completing the task for which he was specifically chosen?

With Unbreakable Love, Angela Carling has created a captivating story for young adult readers, with a refreshing twist on relationship issues. It is an ode to the magical power of true love, a tribute to belief in a benevolent higher power that watches over us and surrounds us every day of our lives.

Unbreakable Love was an interesting book. It was not my favorite book but it was most certainly not the worst one either. There were some things I really liked, somethings I thought were sweet, some things that I really didn’t like, and even some things I thought were a little cheesy. I guess all in all, my feelings are very iffy on it.

At the very beginning of the book, I could have sworn it was going to be a switching POV type of book where one chapter is Jennie and the next would be Nate, and on and on. However this was not the case. It was sometimes Jennie, sometimes Nate, and sometimes another character completely. I understand that some of it was to gain information that is revealed later in the story BUT if that information is already going to be revealed later on, then there is really no use to have that extra POV in there to begin with. Does this make any sense? I just feel like the book probably would have benefited with the type of story that switches between main characters with each passing chapter (plus, I am a total sucker for any author who can do it well!) that way we could get a really good, in debt view on each character.

Okay, enough about that little nuisance, now let’s talk about characters!

Nate was great! I mean, he is a guardian angel, a cute guy, he emits calm and serenity every where he goes, he is always looking out for Jennie, he sacrifices his own feelings to protect her on more than one event, could you get any more sweet? He is just such a great guy. But what I think I love best is he is a Guardian Angel and he is all sorts of perfect but this guy also likes to bend break the rules especially when they concern Jennie! He tries so hard to do what’s best for her but sometimes his emotions get in the way and I sort of love that about him! It really shows that he is human (for lack of a better word because you know, with him being an angel and all, it’s a bit wrong to call him human). Nate has his flaws, he is definitely not perfect but he is sweet and generous, and he really tries to do what’s best for Jennie and that’s all you can ask for.

Jennie was also a pretty good character; she was easy to relate with but there were some things she did that really irritated me. I can totally understand why Nate would fall for her though. She is kind-hearted, sweet, loyal, just an all-around good girl however, she sure had her flaws too. She was quick to judge, sometimes thought irrationally, due to a past relationship she does not trust others very easily, and she is very stubborn. I know I posses all of these flaws and perhaps a ton more, but I just had a hard time stomaching them in this book. She feels a connection to Nate, they take it really slow, he makes sure he gains her trust and friendship first, and soon enough they are best friends. I liked that she let her guard down and let him in but the second someone said a horrible lie about him, she was so quick to believe it. She threw their friendship away so quickly and for such a petty reason, I had a hard time really liking her at that point. I understand that certain things needed to happen to push the story along but perhaps a few scenes could have been switched around to make Jennie a little less harsh and a little more likeable.

As for the angel concept, I really liked it for this story! Guardian Angels are almost part of an agency in this book. The angels get assignments, people who need to be protected for a small amount of time so they can go on to accomplish great things in life, and they are to follow the rules and get the job done. As you’ve probably guessed, Nate was assigned to Jennie (and as I stated earlier, he was not so good at following the set rules). It is Nate’s job to protect Jennie at all costs, don’t touch her, especially DON’T fall in love with her, and get her through a very tough time in life. Not so easy when rules 2 & 3 are broken rather quickly. I really like this whole concept. It was easy to follow and simple BUT there were some details that really didn’t need to be included. **spoiler alert** For instance, there was a very detailed reason behind Jennie needing to be saved and it had to do with a certain someone becoming President of the United States. Okay, I get that the paths these people will walk down in the future may be important but the whole President detail just made it a bit cheesy for me. I could have settled for a more vague statement like “She will go one to do great things.” It’s a minor detail but it was enough to irk me just a little. Some details could have just been left to the imagination and it would have made the whole story more believable.

I know it seems like I am being all picky about this book but don’t get me wrong, it is good! I thought it was a simple, cute, love story that was SUPER easy to follow and it certainly left me with a smile on my face. There may have been a few things I really didn’t like, but if you are a fan of angel books, or heck, even romance books, I say give it a shot!

GIVEAWAY:

Now, since the publisher is just so dang amazing, they sent me an extra signed copy! I am running out of room on my shelves and really don’t have the need for an extra one so I am giving it away (I am fairly certain that is what the extra copy’s purpose was in the first place!) So now onto the rules:

-Must be 13 or older to enter

-Must live in the U.S.

-Must comment on the post AND fill out the form posted below

-Must enter before 1/31/12

-You can earn extra points by doing one or all of the following:

+1 for adding Unbreakable Love on Goodreads

+1 for following me on Twitter

+2 for tweeting about the giveaway

The winner will have 48 hours to respond to an e-mail before a new one is chosen!

TGIF (34)

There once was an awesome blogger named Ginger and she decided to create a super fun feature where fellow bloggers would answer fabulous questions via blog posts every Friday. TGIF was born and we all have Miss Ginger at GReads! to thank for that! This week’s 

Recommend It:

Which book from the last 10 you’ve read would you recommend to a friend?

I have been a reading failure lately! I don’t know what it is about this new year but I am certainly having a very hard time getting back into the grove of things! It’s been a while since I’ve read some of these titles but the last 10 that I have read are:

Loving Emily by Anne Pfeffer

Unbreakable Love by Angela Carling

Summer On Fire by Kevin Craig

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic

Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Out of these ten, I would recommend almost all of them to at least someone out there! Loving Emily was flat-out awesome. If you loved Freefall by Mindi Scott then this one is PERFECT for you! As for Unbreakable Love, it was a cute love story. It wasn’t exactly my favorite take on angels but it was still good! Summer On Fire was another okay one for me. It was a good book but I think it is more for the younger, teenage boy (which is TOTALLY okay with me since I think there needs to be more books for teenage boys out there!). Something, Maybe was my first Elizabeth Scott book, and I am now a fan. Like Sarah Dessen, she has very cute, easy to read books (this is my very non-subtle way of saying, “If you are a SD fan, read this book!”) The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a completely mind-blowing story. I have not even reviewed it because it is just so “wow” that I cannot even find the words to describe it!I think there is something so creepy and haunting about it, but if I (a HUGE baby) can handle it, I have no problem recommending it to everyone else! Never Eighteen is a great book if you are in the mood for a quick, tear-jerker! I think this book is a good mix of Deadline by Chris Crutcher and maybe Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (I don’t know why it reminded me of the latter but it was awesome so that’s all you need to know!). Love Story will keep those Jennifer Echols hard-core fans (such as myself) happy! I loved that this book had older characters! It may not be my ALL-TIME favorite by her but it was still well-worth the read! Lola and the Boy Next Door is a must read. I don’t care if you are 16 or 80. Male or female. THAT BOOK IS MADE OF AWESOME! Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me…ehhh, I didn’t love this one like at all but it does have a super-freaking-awesome title. What Happened To Goodbye. Sarah Dessen, a goddess in my book, wrote it. Need I say more?

So I couldn’t pick just one book to recommend to you guys but I hope that the little snippets I offered on each book will help you decide if you want to read them! And if you have read any of the above titles, what did you think about them???

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands (1/13-1/20):

TGIF (33) The top books on my TBR list for 2012!

Life As Kate (14) Madness, like always!

In My Mailbox (29) HOLY HUGE STACK OF BOOKISH GOODIES, BATMAN!

Tune In Tuesday (43) Featuring the super adorable He Is We!

Dark Days Blog Tour + Book Teasers! Check out the QUESTION OF THE DAY in the comments section and e-mail the authors for a chance to win a KINDLE FIRE!!!

In My Mailbox (29)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is a way for book bloggers to post what they have received for review, borrowed from a friend, bought at the bookstore, or picked up at the library!

The last IMM I posted was all the way back in November! Yeah, it is safe to say the holidays definitely got in the way but I am hoping to keep up with the weekly IMMs from now on. Since I missed almost two full months, this IMM is going to be a lot of craziness! Let’s take a look at what I got!!!

For Review:

Unbreakable Love by Angela Carling

Loving Emily by Anne Pfeffer

Dark Days by C.A. Kunz

Trade Secrets by Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout (e-book)

The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez (e-book)

Settling by Shelley Workinger (e-book)

Bought:

Books

Don’t Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough

Winter’s Kiss: The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols and The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Hapka

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Switched by Amanda Hocking

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Hush Money by Susan Bischoff (e-book)

Impulse Control by Susan Bischoff (e-book)

Indigo Blues by Danielle Joseph (e-book)

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (e-book)

Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (e-book)

My Thoughts: I got some great deals over some awesome books the past couple months however I am now on a book buying ban! There are just too many things I am saving up for plus I now have enough books to last me a lifetime!

Music

Dashboard Confessional

Anberlin

Thriving Ivory

Ryan Adams

Fitz and the Tantrums

Foster The People

The Summer Set

My Thoughts: Can you tell that I ran into some deals at the CD store? All of their used CDs were super cheap plus if you bought 3, you got the 4th one free!

Gifted/Won:

From Alexa @ AlexaLovesBooks

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Chocolates & a card!

My Thoughts: Alexa is one freaking awesome book blogger (and not just because she sent me a super sweet gift!) She never fails to make my days brighter and the day I got this lovely package in the mail was no different. My brother managed to eat both chocolate bars she sent me but I am sure they were delicious! The card was so dang sweet and I cannot wait to read these books!

From Laci @ LovePassionBooks

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

A Taylor Swift card!

My Thoughts: Laci completely surprised me for my birthday! She saw it was my birthday on Twitter and offered to send me two books. I was stunned and so thankful when I got these two in the mail. Plus, she just knows me so well, she got a TAYLOR SWIFT birthday card!!! This made me smile big time :)

From Cyndi @ Dog-Eared and Bookmarked

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Twilight Saga journal set

A Winter Song CD

Water For Elephants Soundtrack

A Christmas Song CD

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Soundtrack

A hand-made scarf & a card!!!

My Thoughts: Cyndi is so full of amazing, I wish I could just hug her! She had been teasing me on Twitter for FOREVER about the gift she was sending me and when it finally got here I cried. Seriously. She was so extremely generous and thoughtful with her gift, it totally made my day!

From Jamie Manning @ Writers Write, Right?

A singed Eternal Starling bookmark from Angela Corbett

My Thoughts: I am not entirely sure how I got this or even why, but hey it is a gorgeous, signed bookmark; I am NOT complaining!

From my Dad and Stepmom:

Books

A New Bookshelf

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

New stationary so I can write letters to all of my blogging friends!

Music

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

Tenth Avenue North

The Fray

The Cab

My Thoughts: I love my dad and stepmom so much! They spoiled me on my birthday and Christmas and I couldn’t be happier :)

From my Mom:

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

My Thoughts: It may have taken a while to convince my mom that it was actually okay to buy me books for Christmas but once she finally understood, she made an excellent decision! I can’t wait to continue on with this series.

From my Grandma:

Books

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

$25 gift card to Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts: My grandma also did good with the book choice this year! I haven’t read the first of The Infernal Devices but when I do, I now have the second to immediately follow-up with!

Music

Plain White T’s

The All-American Rejects

My Thoughts: Last time I asked for an All-American Rejects CD from my grandma, she got me an Alter Bridge CD. They are COMPLETELY different! I was so happy she could find the right ones this time around!

From my Aunts & Uncles:

Overprotected by Jennifer Laurens

Bookmark pens

The Nook!

My Thoughts: I am thrilled I got an awesome book and bookmarks but I am even more thrilled that I now have my very own Nook! I was very adamant that I would hate an e-reader, but I now love having one! Go figure!

So that’s a ton of great books that I got the past couple of months! Since it is going to take a lot of time to read those, I am officially putting myself under a book buying ban. It should be interesting to say the least. Don’t forget to leave a link to your IMM post in the comment section and I will be sure to check it out!

TGIF (31)

There once was an awesome blogger named Ginger and she decided to create a super fun feature where fellow bloggers would answer fabulous questions via blog posts every Friday. TGIF was born and we all have Miss Ginger at GReads! to thank for that! This week’s question is:

First & Last:

What was the first book you read in 2011 and the last you finished in 2011? How do you feel about these books? Would you recommend them to other readers?

2011 has been an EXCELLENT year as far as  books have been concerned. Some, okay almost all, of my favorite books, I consumed during the last year and this post is definitely making me think about that. As I got ready for this week’s TGIF question, I enlisted the help of trusty, ole’ goodreads to do the dirty work (by this, I mean I looked at the books I read in 2011 in chronological order. Really, it made everything so much easier.) While doing this I pondered over some titles and thought to myself, “Wow, I seriously read that book within the last 365 days? It feels like forever since I’ve read it!” But of course goodreads never lies, and I have indeed read those books in 2011.

By doing this post, I got a little bit sad. I kept thinking of all the great titles, the “new book excitement” I got, the wee hours I stayed up to read, the countless amounts of time I put into expressing my feelings just so if only to convince at least one other person to read it. And it really did make me tear up a bit. I want nothing more than to read through some of those titles again. To experience those feelings of pure joy that I first got while reading them. But I shall resist because I know for a fact that there are excellent things to be read in 2012. The new books coming out, the review books gathering dust on my shelves, and let’s not forget the 152 books sitting in my room just DYING to be read. Will I get through these all in the coming year? Heck-to-the-no. But can I expect to have the same, uber excited feelings over books that will be read by yours truly? Well of course! Here’s to a fabulous year we all had in 2011 and an even better one to come in 2012. Happy New Year everyone!

sidenote #1: I would recommend almost ALL of the books that I read the past year to at least one reader out there. Even some of the lower rating books that I picked up, may not have been “the one” for me but there is someone out there who it is perfect for. It is all about finding the right person with the right interests! With that being said, there are a few titles below that I would recommend to pretty much every living, breathing human on this planet because of its sheer awesomeness!

sidenote #2: The first 5 books read in 2011 are linked to the review where as the last 5 books read in 2011 are linked to goodreads. I haven’t quite gotten around to reviewing those ones.

sidenote #3: If you do on an off-chance check out the reviews linked, pretty please with sugar on top DON’T laugh at my lameness. Okay…I guess you can laugh at my lameness but only little chuckles are allowed. The reviews are…interesting for lack of a better word.

The first 5 books I read in 2011 were:

1) Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Jennifer Echols is a YA contemporary rock star! I won this book from her, (and yes, it is now ruined thanks to two of my sibling. Don’t bring it up though. It still causes tears to spring to my eyes.) and then quickly devoured it. I was so caught up in the perfect summer she created for us. Every character was very real to me and I loved every second that I spent with them. It was the perfect, fun read to start off the new year.

2) Beastly by Alex Flinn

This was a pretty good story. It wasn’t the best thing I have ever read but it surely kept me entertained. Plus it was one of the first fairy tale retellings I have ever read and I am now hooked! It was very cool how Alex did it from the Beast’s perspective as opposed to Belle’s.

3) What Can’t Wait by Ashley Hope Perez

I have some serious love for this book and for this author. As I have stated before, Ashley was the very first author who ever took a chance on my blog. I still remember the cheesy smile that was plastered on my face for DAYS after she asked if I would review her book. I still get that same little high every time an author so much as responds to one of my tweets. This book was powerful and beautiful. I love it oh so much!

4) Fade by Lisa McMann

This whole series is full of greatness. I was able to read all three books super quickly and they entertained me from start to finish. Wake started my obsession with the series and Fade only added to it!

5) Girl vs. Boy by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

Yvonne and Sandy are a writing duo that I have quickly come to love and that is because of this book! They are just super fun and their books put a big smile on your face. It was easy to get through and it just made me insanely happy. After this, I will forever be a fan of theirs!

The last 5 books I read in 2011 were:

5) Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic

It is safe to say that this book made me extremely happy, it then broke my heart into a million pieces, and then left me feeling a sense of calmness. Any book that can take you through those emotions especially in a small amount of pages is HUGE!

4) The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Huh? What? Did that just happen? Was this a dream? Was this a nightmare? Wait…he did what? <<<That was my stream of thoughts throughout this whole book and now weeks after finishing it, those are STILL the thoughts I am thinking. I cannot grasp what exactly went down but I do know that I loved every thrilling, exhilarating moment of craziness that Michelle took us through. SUCH A GOOD BOOK!

3) Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

This was my first Elizabeth Scott book and it is now safe to say she has made a fan of me. The book was fun but still packed with some emotion. The characters were super easy to relate to and sympathize with even if it seem we have nothing in common. I loved reading this one!

2) Summer on Fire by Kevin Craig

This was a pretty good book. There were a few things I didn’t quite like but I did love that it was from a teen boys perspective! We were really able to get inside the head of the main character and while I did not like a few of the things he did, it was all very believable and in the end it was a pretty good story.

1) Unbreakable Love by Angela Carling

This was also a pretty good book. There were some moments I thought were a bit cheesy or almost cliché BUT it was a really sweet love story and exactly what I needed to cheer me up.

This week on Katelyn’s Blog (12/23-12/30):

TGIF (30) Dear Santa: My Christmas wishlist!

Life As Kate (11): One tough, tough week :-/

The Trylle Series by Amanda Hocking + Book Trailer

Tune In Tuesday (40): My ultimate concert love for Taylor Swift & We The Kings!