The Best of Twenty-Eleven

The year has come and gone so quickly that I can hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday I was starting my winter semester as a college Freshman and I was trying to squeeze in every ounce of fun that I could. A ton of memories were created this past year, some bad but mostly all good, and I like to think it has been one of the best years yet. In keeping with the same format that I used last year, here are some of the best moments of 2011!

Sidenote: Almost all of these are a tie between two or more things. Sorry about that, I tried my best to narrow it down but it just wasn’t happening!

1. Best Vacation– This is definitely a tie between the Myrtle Beach vacation I took with Kati and the Myrtle Beach Vacation I took with my family a month later. The weather was gorgeous both times and I got to experience a ton of different things with each trip. I was so lucky to be able to go on two vacations back to back like that!

2. Best Concert– This one also has a tie! It is between Warped Tour 2011 and the acoustic performance by We The Kings! Warped Tour is a day filled with music awesomeness! I saw so many bands perform, got a ton of stuff signed, and I even got to talk to a few of the performers. The We The Kings acoustic performance was brilliant for so many reasons: It was acoustic, it was small, it was free, it featured my future husband, I got to put my arms around my future husband, and I even got to take a picture with my future husband. IT WAS AMAZING!

3. Best CD– This is also going to have to be a tie! We The Kings dropped their latest album this year entitled Sunshine State of Mind. The title of the album couldn’t be more perfect because I get in a sunshiney state of mind EVERY TIME I listen to their CD. So what could be the competition to such an epic CD? All the mixed CD’s I got this past year! I had a lot of friends make me CD’s and all of them were filled with awesome songs that brings a smile to my face!

4. Best New Activity– I can’t explain too many details because I have yet to send out Christmas presents to some pretty freaking lovely bloggers but I do enjoy jewelry making. It takes time and is far more expensive than I could have imagined but it is so much fun to create!

5. Best Birthday Present– Last year I got a whole new bedroom so I was wondering how anything could ever live up to something like that. The answer came in the form of a brand-new bookshelf! I was making just the one work but I was desperately in need of one and my parents luckily noticed it! I love it so freaking much!

6. Best Movies– Well I do love me some movies…and popcorn! Some of my favorites were: Breaking Dawn: Part 1, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, The Help, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows: Part 2, and Footloose.

7. Best Books– Oh gosh! It was my original goal to read 100 books in 2011 but Goodreads just wouldn’t stop telling me how sucky I was at completing that goal so I changed it to 80 and I still didn’t accomplish it! However, I did squeeze in 76 books. The best ones (some 4’s and all 5 stars) are:

Sidenote: Some of the titles will be linked to my reviews and other will be linked to Goodreads since I have not yet reviewed them!

Sophie & Carter by Chelsea Fine

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

A Girl Named Willow Krimble by Giuseppe Bianco

Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Released by Megan Duncan

Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Sean Griswold’s Head by Lindsey Leavitt

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Faithful by Janet Fox

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

What Can’t Wait by Ashley Hope Perez

Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Matched by Ally Condie

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Re-reads of both Sarah Dessen and Jennifer Echols books

Fade by Lisa McMann

The Childe by C.A. Kunz

Between by Cyndi Tefft

Love, Inc. by Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout

Girl v Boy by Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

8. Best Blogging Moment– How does one even choose something like this? In the past year I have met more authors, connected with more bloggers, reviewed more books, joined more weekly features, and had the most fun than I have EVER had! This whole experience has been one joyous event after another and I have all of YOU to thank for that. I have found some of the greatest friends and most influential people (and let’s not forget they all also kick butt when it come to writing reviews!) than I could have ever imagined. I would not trade this past year for anything!

9. Best Friend(s)– It is no secret that Kati has and always will be my best friend. I talk about her awesomeness all the time. But because of recent events, I feel like I must give a shout-out to my dear friend Stacey. Her and I were running buddies in high school. You could never find two girls who hated cross-country with such a deep passion like the two of us (even though we secretly loved it!) She has been there for both Kati and I through so many things and now it’s our turn to be there for Stacey. These two girls make my days so much better and I love them for that!

10. Best Family– Well of course this goes out to my family once again but not without some complaints! Zack and Zeke aka The Brat Pack drove me absolutely INSANE this past year. Those two boys are the epitome of annoying little brothers. I love them to death but jeez louise they sure are crazy! In all honesty, I am lucky to have my family always there for me. They support me through everything and even though they make fun of me every once in a while, they always know how to make me smile!

So that’s it for my 2011! I hope you all had a great year and an even better 2012!

TGIF (9)

TGIF is a fun little feature hosted at GReads! Every week we re-cap what has happened on the blog plus Ginger asks a question for us to answer. This week’s question is:

Character Envy:

If you could be one character from a book, who would you choose & why?

Are you guys ready for another list? You should have guessed that I could not choose just one character to envy! In A LOT of the books I read, I can picture myself as the main character or at least one character in the story, really who doesn’t? BUT there are a select few that I am just dying to be a part of; I want to walk through their fictional world. Whether it is the character’s personality, where they live, or who they love, the following girls all have one thing in common: I want to be them!

1) Author Jennifer Echols writes so many wonderful stories. Her books Going Too Far and Forget You are ones that I love and they both contain characters that really stick with me but her book, Endless Summer, is the one that really does it for me. Lori has what I consider to be a near perfect life. She lives right on the shores of a beautiful lake in a house right next to two beautiful boys. Her summer days are spent working on the water while her nights are filled with wakeboarding and parties. I am insanely jealous of this girl! I want to be able to wakeboard and do all sorts of awesome tricks. Not to mention, kissing Adam is a dream of mine!

2) In Jacquelyn Wheeler’s Soterians series, she creates a world where agents of good gain powers when the balance between good and evil shifts too far in evil’s advantage. The main character, Ashlyn, gains so many super awesome powers. I would love to be able to fly, turn invisible, and have super hearing, basically anything a super hero can do. It would be awesome to do all of those things! I should also mention that Ashlyn’s boyfriend is the sweetest guy ever!

3) Stephanie Perkins is an author who is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Her novel, Anna and the French Kiss, is probably the cutest, most adorable thing I have ever read. Anna is one character I would switch places with in a heartbeat. I want to live in France, go see old movies, share a bed with Etienne St. Clair. Oh Etienne…..so dreamy! My dad can turn into an egotistical jerk any day if it means I get to live a life like Anna’s!

4) The Secret Society Girl series (Secret Society Girl, Under The Rose, Rites of Spring Break, and Tap & Gown) by Diana Peterfreund is the one and only adult-ish series I have ever read. I read it every year during spring break with my best friend Kati and I have yet to get sick of it. Amy’s life is crazy, hectic, and full of lots of drama but I still want to be her. Her sense of humor and dedication to her secret society are qualities I so desperately want. All of her love interests in the series are my favorites plus she has a pretty awesome best friend!

5) Recently I have read one of the most wonderful books ever. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta is a beautiful story full of many twists and turns. The main character, Taylor, has had a crappy life to say the least but that does not deter me from wanting to be her. All of the lessons she learns, all of the mysteries she solves, all of the loss she goes through is SO worth it. Her story is a beautiful one and I’d like nothing more than to be a part of it.

 The week on Katelyn’s Blog (7/22-7/29):

In My Mailbox (20)

A Girl Named Willow Krimble by Giuseppe Bianco

Tune-In Tuesday (18)

I Now Introduce To You…

TGIF (7)

TGIF is a fun little feature hosted at GReads! Every week we re-cap what has happened on the blog plus Ginger asks a question for us to answer. This week’s question is:

Book Blogger Appreciation:

Which book blogs have inspired you or made a difference in your blogging experience?

This is such a great question! By now you guys have probably caught on to the fact that I LOVE making lists so here is my list of blogs that have truly made a difference in my life!

Y.A. LOVE

First and foremost is the blog that started it all for me, Y.A. Love. This blog is ran by Sarah or as I am used to calling her, Mrs. Andersen. Sarah is basically the greatest person ever! She was my Young Adult Literature teacher during my senior year of high school, she runs one of the greatest blogs around, and she started our super awesome book club. Did you catch that first part? We had an entire class dedicated to Young Adult Literature and Mrs. Andersen did/does such a wonderful job teaching it! During her class I was only aware of her blog; I had no idea that this whole other world existed out there! It is because of her that my love of reading soon turned into my love of writing book reviews. I will forever be grateful to Sarah for introducing me to the blogging world!

(Blog ~ Twitter)

BOOKS FROM BLEH TO BASICALLY AMAZING

Second, is someone so full of awesomesauce that it is a pure miracle she hasn’t exploded yet. My dear, sweet Twitter Godmother, is someone I talk about often on the blog, to my family, and quite constantly to my real-life best friend. She is a blogger who literally turned into a great friend over night. Her taste in books is extremely varied compared to mine and I can honestly say that there are a TON of books that she has introduced me to that I would have not read otherwise. Her kindness, generosity, and over-all amazingness never fails to stun me. We have the same extremely, over-confident personalities that have stemmed plenty of late-night Twitter conversations that went much like this: “Me: You are so awesome, I can hardly believe it! Awesome Blogger: Yes, this I know. You are awesome too, that’s why I like you. Me: Really, everyone is jealous of are pure awesomeness. I am sure they are just dying to be friends with us.” Okay, that was a poor example (I can’t think of these things right on the spot like that) BUT we literally have at least one conversation similar to that per week; it is pretty pathetic actually. ANYWAYS I am pretty sure that if we were to ever be in the same room together, Ashley @ Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing and I would start some type of catatonic combustion for so much awesome being in the same place at the same time. Our ability to speed talk, ramble, use crazy hand gestures, and spit out random facts like no one’s business are just a few reasons why we were destined to be blogging friends. Trust me on this one guys, Ashley is one blogger you should definitely take the time to get to know!

(Blog ~ Twitter)

CARI’S BOOK BLOG

Third on my list is probably the most generous, giving person I have ever come across in my life. It all started one night when I left a simple comment on her blog. She then went out of her way to e-mail me, told me to choose 5 books from that particular blog post, and then she would mail them to me. But you just wait a second! Her kindness doesn’t stop there! She then took it upon herself to send me those 5 books PLUS some. I got a box so full of great books and swag that I could hardly contain myself. This random act of kindness even made me shed a tear or two; this is something that doesn’t happen often. Hold up there! You thought I was done, didn’t you? Oh, not yet! Just recently she told me to mail her a few of my Sarah Dessen books to her, not so she could keep them but so she could get them signed for me! It is no secret that Sarah Dessen is like my FAVORITE AUTHOR EVER so you could imagine the slight, or not so slight depending on how you look at it,  freak out that I had when she told me that. You see what I mean now? Maria from Cari’s Book Blog is the epitome of a sweet heart. I get so overwhelmed when I think of everything that she does. She writes reviews, turns book bloggers into a mob of zombies for super cool authors, hosts giveaways, and she still manages to make the day of one little blogger named Katelyn. Some day, some how, I will find out a way to pay her back!

(Blog ~ Twitter)

GREADS!

Oh, how could I create this list and not mention Ginger? Ginger’s blog, GReads!, is just amazing for lack of a better word. Her taste in books and love of music are just a few reasons why I love her. I was lost for a while before I stumbled across Ginger’s blog. I am a self-proclaimed book addict and music junkie but all of the great music that I listen to was not getting the proper attention on my blog. Her Tune-In Tuesday meme has quickly become a favorite for me as well as her other fun blog features like TGIF. Ginger manages to write these super descriptive and fun book reviews AND introduces me to a new, fantastic band all in the span of 24 hours. It’s like she has some type of super power. Ginger’s blog brings a smile to my face every single time I read it!

(Blog ~ Twitter)

MANDIE BAXTER

Mandie Baxter is like my own personal Twitter best friend! Twitter is the place where I first started talking with her but you should know that she is just now starting to get back in the blogging world with her blog titled Rose Red so be sure to check it out! Mandie brightens my day ALL of the time. Seriously, I’ll have  a crap-tastic day at work then I will come home to a tweet or comment from Mandie and an insta-smile spreads across my face. She re-tweets me like crazy, listens to me complain about random stuff via Twitter, boosts my review-writing ego (seriously, you should check out the things she says about my blog. SWEETEST GIRL EVER!), and leaves precious comments ALL THE TIME! I <3 her like no other.

(Blog ~ Twitter)

LEXCADE

Then there is Catherine Peace or as many know her Lexcade. She was the first bookish friend I met on Twitter. It all started one night when I was saying random, dumb stuff on Twitter at 3 a.m. Since then, I always look forward to our conversations. She has been busy working on her books but when I do get a chance to chat with her, I get all sorts of happy.

(Blog ~ Twitter)

TWO READERS REVIEWS

Missy from Two Readers Reviews is another super fantastic blogger that you guys NEED to check out. She is so extremely kind, has re-tweeting super powers that surpass a normal humans, and she always leaves great comments on my blog!  I am always so excited to go through her blog posts.

(Blog ~ Twitter)

THE READING HOUSEWIVES OF INDIANA

 Jacinda from The Reading Housewives of Indiana is uber fantastic! She writes a ton of honest, thoughtful reviews, leaves comments that make me smile (can you tell that I <3 anyone who leaves comments?), and she comes up with super awesome bloggish things to do!

(Blog ~ Twitter)

Last but certainly not least is everyone I didn’t specifically name. There are so many awesome bloggers and Twitter friends out there who write great reviews, support authors, leave brilliant comments around the blogosphere and take the time to help fellow bloggers out! It is to these people and everyone listed above that I say THANK YOU! You have easily made starting a book blog the best decision I’ve ever made!

~Since I missed last week’s TGIF post this is a re-cap of the past two weeks!~

Last week and last week on Katelyn’s Blog (7/1-7/15):

Released by Megan Duncan

In My Mailbox (17)

Tune In Tuesday (15)/Teaser Tuesday (9)

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

In My Mailbox (18)

Vans Warped Tour 2011

Tune In Tuesday (16)

Bad Taste In Boys by Carrie Harris Celebration

Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler

Book Review: Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler

Title: Rising Shadow (The Soterians #1)

Author: Jacquelyn Wheeler

Publisher: Self-published

Pages: 332 paperback

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Source: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review

Ashlyn Woods has just transferred to one of the most beautiful campuses on the west coast, where she can’t wait to start her life over as a normal college student. But her plans take an unexpected turn when she discovers that she is a Soterian: a person who develops special powers when the balance of good and evil shifts too far in evil’s favor.

Soon she and the other Soterians are studying martial arts and learning to use their powers to prevent California from being plunged into chaos. But they quickly discover that they’re up against a much more dangerous enemy than they anticipated.

And when Ashlyn meets Kai, a devastatingly gorgeous guitar player, she realizes she must sacrifice more than she ever imagined. (Summary, courtesy of Goodreads.com)

I have had this book finished for a while now but I needed to take some time before I wrote the review on it. It is just so good, every single aspect of it, that I didn’t even know where to start! The writing was great; action flowed with ease right into romance. Characters were written with strong personalities and lovable little quirks! Not to mention, the overall uniqueness of the story had me constantly guessing on what was coming next!

This book follows a young woman, Ashlyn, as she transfers to a new college. First off can I just say that I love her age? I love books about teens coming to age but every now and then it is refreshing to find a YA book dealing with characters a bit on the older side. Secondly, Ashlyn is a character anyone could easily fall in love with. She is a great person with a kind heart but she is also not afraid to let her flaws show. Ashlyn’s plans are to start over and leave her rebellious past behind her. I love that she is well aware of the mistakes she made but is trying really hard to change the future. Ashlyn wants to lead a good life so she works extremely hard to try and achieve it. Her inner strength was strong to begin with but once she starts getting her powers, she really starts to blossom!

Speaking of powers, I suppose I should explain what I even mean by that! Ashlyn and her roommate, Rebecca, start experiencing really strange things. Rebecca seems to be in tune with everyone’s feelings past the point of creepy. For Ashlyn it is more physical. Training for her triathlons has suddenly become extremely easy for her. Not to mention the little part about being able to fly! A series of events leads Ashlyn and Rebecca along with a group of fellow college students to realize that they are Soterians, people who gain special powers when the balance between good and evil shifts too far in evil’s favor. This idea alone was what made me instantly love the book. Jacquelyn essentially came up with her own forms of superheroes in a totally non-dorky way! I enjoyed learning of everyone’s powers so very much. All of the other “heroes” that were introduced to us were extremely well-developed for side characters. I felt like I could easily get along with all of them!

If battling evil wasn’t hard enough for Ashlyn to cope with there is also a new, budding romance that she must learn to balance with school and her Soterian duties.  I will be honest; my own personal love life is non-existent so when I get to read about other college students who can pull off relationships, I feel a little better, almost hopeful. The romance between Kai and Ashlyn is ahhh-mazing! You get to see the very start of their relationship. There is an instant chemistry between them but the “new Ashlyn” is trying very hard to make the right choice when it comes to boys so she keeps Kai in the friend zone for a while. The pace that their relationship progressed was perfect for this length of a book. Not only did we get to see all of the things that these two have in common but we get to see them go from understanding friends to stable partners in a relationship.

The conflicts that these characters faced seemed a little far-fetched for me at first. I found myself thinking “this is really the problem they have to deal with? It is kind of lame.” BUT as the story moved on and we were able to see exactly what the characters were up against, I was a lot more understanding. The “evil” that the Soterians must combat came as a total surprise for me! I loved how much unexpected action took place in the story especially during the ending. If the Soterians weren’t practicing their combating skills, they were off fighting some evil source somewhere!

It is safe to say that this was an extremely pleasant surprise of a read! This action-packed, story will please fans of paranormal, sci-fi, and romance books! I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!

TGIF (6)

TGIF is a fun little feature hosted at GReads! Every week we re-cap what has happened on the blog plus Ginger asks a question for us to answer. This week’s question is: 

Mr & Mrs:

Who are your favorite book couples?

It is official now, Ginger @ GReads! is trying to stump me with her questions of awesomness! I have read a lot of books. I have read a lot of books that include romance. I have read AND loved a lot of books that include romance and super awesome couples. To narrow down the list is impossible so I say, why not name them all? Here it goes!

Ashlyn & Kai from Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler

Abby & Max from Released by Megan Duncan

Amy and Roger from Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy and Avi from The Ruined series by Simone Elkeles

Clara and Tucker from Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Anna and Ettienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Calla and REN from Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Ethan and Lena from The Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Lori and Adam from Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Meg and John from Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Zoey and Doug from Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Amy and Poe from The Secret Society Girl series by Diana Peterfreund

Janie and Cable from The Dream Catcher series by Lisa McMann

Isobel and Varen from Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Evie and Lend from Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Luce and Daniel from Fallen by Lauren Kate

Clary and Jace from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

Brittany and Alex from Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Kiara and Carlos from Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

ALL major relationships from these following Sarah Dessen Books:

Along for the Ride

Lock and Key

This Lullaby

The Truth About Forever

Just Listen

Okay, there are all of my favorite relationships! These relationships stick out the most for me because they have chemistry. The characters aren’t perfect, the situations they face aren’t ideal, yet they still find an understanding with someone and from that, their love grows for each other.

This week on Katelyn’s Blog (6/24-7/1):

Happy Birthday Kati

In My Mailbox (16)

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Tune-In Tuesday (14)

In My Mailbox (16)

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. For the second time in a row I ran out of time to post my IMM last week so this week is two weeks in one. Don’t forget to click the book title to add it to your Goodreads account!

Review:

 Sue’s Fingerprint by Andrew D. Carlson (Signed)

Summary: A gel-like substance is suddenly discovered across the country. Ted Stevens, a Director in the Department of Homeland Security, is assigned to investigate. He enlists the help of scientists at a government laboratory to analyze the ‘goo’. They discover the substance was sent to Earth and has unique properties; it can clone animals. Ted soon learns the substance can also clone humans. Sue is the first of eleven new people cloned from the alien substance. She and the others are contained by Ted on an abandoned military base. While there, the clones receive a message. Sue decides she must deliver it, and one morning they find she’s gone. During the recovery of Sue, Ted learns of the clones’ message and begins to understand their true intentions. He needs to know more about the clones, so he collects samples for DNA fingerprint testing. The fate of the new people will be decided by the results from Ted’s friends at the laboratory.

My Thoughts: When Andrew first sent me an e-mail about his book and said he thought I would enjoy it because it seems similar to Solid by Shelley Workinger, I just about instantly fell in love with that statement. First off, I totally appreciate authors making sure that the book may be of interest to me. He took the time to go through my reviews and found out that I REALLY enjoyed a book similar to his own. This leads me to my second point which is I did enjoy Solid by Shelley Workinger so I am very excited to see Andrew’s twist on this sci-fi story.

Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler

Summary: Ashlyn Woods has just transferred to one of the most beautiful campuses on the west coast, where she can’t wait to start her life over as a normal college student. But her plans take an unexpected turn when she discovers that she is a Soterian: a person who develops special powers when the balance of good and evil shifts too far in evil’s favor.

Soon she and the other Soterians are studying martial arts and learning to use their powers to prevent California from being plunged into chaos. But they quickly discover that they’re up against a much more dangerous enemy than they anticipated.

And when Ashlyn meets Kai, a devastatingly gorgeous guitar player, she realizes she must sacrifice more than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts:  Holy crap I just finished this book and it was freaking fantastic! Seriously it blew me away. I don’t want to cause any spoilers so I will keep quiet but look forward to my FIVE STAR review that will be up on the blog soon! Also, I find it completely awesome that Book Crazy Blog, Electrifying Reviews, and Y.A. Addict are all quoted on the back. I follow those actual blogs and they are quoted on a real, live book! That is just too awesome!

A Girl Named Willow Krimble by Giuseppe Bianco (Signed)

Summary: So, you’ve just discovered that the person who has tormented, mocked and humiliated you for the past three years is lying in the school parking lot, bleeding internally from a hit and run accident. No one else is around and you need to get to a life-and-death family emergency of your own before it is too late. What would you do? Oh, did I mention you have the secret ability to heal others just by touching them? This is just one of the many situations 13-year-old Willow Krimble must face in this Web Novel, A Girl Named Willow Krimble.

Willow lives with her mother and older brother, Wyatt; she loves hanging out with her best friend, the feisty and sarcastic Razzel Fiora, and she has a close relationship with her grandmother. Seems pretty normal, right? It might be if the two most popular girls in middle school, Shayla Stergus and Snella Burenbine, did not taunt and remind her, on a daily basis, that she was born without her left leg.

Forced to maneuver through obstacles most teenagers would not need to tackle, Willow is suddenly blessed (or cursed?) with the unusual power to heal others through touch. Ever selfless, Willow’s desire to help the injured and sick thrusts her into a world where she is given immense responsibility, putting the needs of others before her own, all the while trying to maintain her secret.

Willow’s adolescent journey takes her through an emotional cyclone where she finds joy and purpose in helping an array of patients from an old man with Alzheimer’s to a mauled animal in a pet store. But Willow soon finds out there are limitations to her ability and, no matter how hard she might try, she cannot save everyone.

Through the intermingling of joy and pain, Willow is repeatedly tested to discover just how strong she can be, how strong she has been her entire life, and how everyone possesses the ability to effect another person’s world, with or without a secret power.

My Thoughts: First, thanks so much Giuseppe for sending me this book! The premise sounds completely interesting, a teen girl who can heal people with a touch is just awesome. I can’t wait to read this one to find out more.

The Virgin Diaries by Kimberly A. Johnson (PDF)

Summary: What’s it like to have sex for the first time? Seventy-two people, young and old, gay and straight, responded to the call for answers and those answers are in The Virgin Diaries. This candid collection of stories provides a unique opportunity to be a fly on the wall. There is no commentary. The stories stand on their own, allowing the reader to form his or her own conclusions. Whether you are a virgin and desire to make an informed decision or are looking for a walk down Memory Lane, The Virgin Diaries offers confidential insights into one of life’s most personal experiences.

My Thoughts: I will not lie, when I first got this book review request I was a bit undecided on if I would accept but the more I thought about this book and what it stands for, I just couldn’t help but say yes. A book that teaches ALL of the pros and cons of sex along with different views points in a non-vulgar read is just genius. If only my parents would have had this book handy when they were going through “the talk” with me.