TGIF (50)

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:

Show Me Your Cover:

What are some of the worst book covers, but hold some of the best stories inside? Don’t be embarrassed, show us your cover!

I had a really hard time with this question! I went through all of my top rated books but as I was doing so, I realized something: I love almost all of their covers! Most people are very particular about covers but that just isn’t me. Sometimes I like people on the covers, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I like the more artistic look and other times it just doesn’t work for me. After quite a bit of searching and even more nit-picking, I did come up with a few covers I was not a fan of (sort of. I still like most of the covers, just not for that particular book)

Ex-mas (A Love/Hate Story) by Kate Brian

It’s been a while since I’ve read this one but I remember finding it totally adorable! The cover is cute enough but it also has a little too much cheesiness.

Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Don’t get me wrong, this cover is very pretty HOWEVER I am not a giant fan of such a specific image of the main character. I had someone all dreamed up in my head and this cover made it a little hard to let my imagination run free.

Trade Secrets by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

My reasons for not liking this cover are very similar to the above one. I had the character all figured out in my head but then when you go and look at the cover it’s just not quite the same. This book is so full of quirkiness, adorableness, and music! There should be a guitar on the cover (just saying!)

Return To Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Are these real people or is that a drawing? Isn’t this the same two people on another YA book even though the other one has a different background? Why doesn’t this cover match the edginess of the first book’s cover? All these questions explain why I do not like this cover.

Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Holy freaking creep-fest, Batman! I had nightmares for weeks and weeks after looking at this book. The story inside is a bit scary yes, but I do not need to pee my pants every time I look at the book!

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This cover also creeped me out like no other. When my best friend suggested this as our next book club read, I almost smacked her. The story is just so great and really not all that creepy so I really wish the cover didn’t portray that! I love that Ransom used all these old, freaky photos throughout the whole book but using one on the cover may scare readers away, ones who would have loved the book!

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands (5/18-5/25):

TGIF (49)

Life As Kate (16)

Tune In Tuesday (60)

Elements by Kate Fuentes + Blog Tour + Review (kind of!)

Katelyn Visits GReads!!!!!!!!!

TGIF (43)

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:

Book Series Finales:

Which book, from any series has been your favorite ending? What about your least favorite ending?

Woo! Ginger is making me think extra hard this week. After going through my Goodreads list, I noticed something: I have started like a million different series (not quite a million but still it’s A LOT!) and have finished hardly any of them. There are a number of reasons for this like the series started to suck, the books kept going on, and on, and on (I am looking at you House of Night series!)… or the series just isn’t finished yet! But regardless of the reason, I found that I have finished only a select few series and they are:

Secret Society Girl Series by Diana Peterfreund

I mention this series ALL the time on the blog. It is safe to say it is one of the BEST SERIES EVER!!!! The whole thing is amazing (especially book 3 which is really saying something since middle books are generally the most blahh), the characters get better, the plot changes up and surprises you, and the ending is just so sweet and perfect. It left me with that goofy little smile on my face that was present during the other 3 books as well.

How To Ruin Series by Simone Elkeles

This series was so full of awesome. It had the drama and steaminess that Simone is so well-known for but it also had a great sense of humor. I read the whole series straight through so it was great to see what little changes each character went through. The finale of this series left off at a pretty great spot; I wasn’t craving one last story and I wasn’t dying for it to be over, it was just perfect.

Endless Summer Series by Jennifer Echols

It is strange to see a two-book series but Jennifer is just cool like that! I sometimes think of Endless Summer as one whole book but it is in fact 2 books. This series helped proved my already crazy-big love for Jennifer. It was funny, sweet, and was perfect in that first-love type of way <3

Dream Catcher Series by Lisa McMann

This is actually my least favorite ending of the 4 series that I have listed. The first two books were fast-paced, extra interesting, and had a sense of urgency that the last book just didn’t have. It had things in the ending that needed to be said and were important to the story but at the same time something could have been done to make it a little more action (or mystery)-packed.

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands (3/30-4/6):

TGIF (42) Book Blogger Retreat

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disaster by Meredith Zeitlin

Tune In Tuesday (53)

TGIF (37)

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:

Love Stories:

What are some of your favorite fictional love stories?

Aside from my personal (and yes very fictional) love story that I have made up in my head, there are a TON of love stories in books that have completely captured my heart. I know I make a lot of lists and I often times go WAY overboard, and before you get ahead of yourself this post is no different, BUT I just wanted to let you know that I held back a lot or at least I tried to! There are so many wonderful, beautiful, breathtaking love stories (that I have read!) that deserve to be on this list but I only have so much time and I don’t think you want to be stuck here all day! Please excuse me while I get very excited, maybe a bit hot and bothered, and of course way too giddy!

Chelsea Fine

This girl is PURE GENIUS when it comes to writing love stories.

A few months ago I read Sophie & Carter and I was mesmerized by their love for each other. This story was about two people loving each other despite their completely screwed up lives. They accepted one another even with all the extra baggage that came along with it. Let’s be honest, this is what every relationship should be like!

Then the other day I finished Anew. I have not reviewed it yet but let me give you a little preview of what is to come “OH.EM.GEE!!!!!… That’s was crazy…Kissing Festival?….bright blue eyes….Gabriel<3….Twin brother!?!?!…..TRISTAN<3<3<3<3…swoon…drool…broken heart…LLLOOOVVVEEE!” Does that give you an idea about how epic this story is? Scarlet is lucky because she has two exceptional guys (did I mention they were brothers?) pining after her. One thinks life is rainbows and butterflies plus he worships the ground she walks on (Gabriel) and the other sacrifices EVERYTHING for her just to keep her safe (Tristan…sigh<3)

Stephanie Perkins

I probably don’t need to use up my time writing this out because we are all aware of how brilliant Stephanie is but I will do it just in case one of you is crazy enough to have not read her work before!

Anna and the French Kiss is adorable, there is lots of tension (the love kind, not the angry kind), and neither person involved in the relationship is technically available (Yeah, I know…this isn’t sounding like a good love story so far) but I still love it regardless. It is one story that captures the idea of a soul mate (or at least the idea of some who was almost made for you), some one so imperfectly perfect for you, that the only thing you can do in life is love them unconditionally.

Then Miss Stephanie had to go and show us that the first book was not just beginners luck. Lola and the Boy Next Door makes me smile by just saying the title. It shows that love can be messy and not always super pretty but there is such thing as forgiveness. Lola and Cricket have a strained relationship in the beginning but they work through it, they become good friends, and they have a heart-pounding smooching scene that I am insanely jealous of.

Megan McCafferty

I am a bit of a “newer” fan of the “I HEART EVERYTHING MEGAN WRITES” club, but that doesn’t change her level of brilliance. Which is pretty much as high as you can get.

I have only read the first 2 books in The Jessica Darling series so I will just have to go off of that. Wow!!! When I say Marcus you say LOVE. There is no definite way to describe this love story except that it’s full of laughs, two people being there for each other, making each other mad, apologizing in big ways (that may or may not include a whole song dedicated to them). Seriously, Jessica and Marcus are just so right together; they make sense. Plus, I just LOVE it when opposites attract to each other. They are both genius but Marcus has the whole rebel without a cause thing going for him and Jessica is brilliant, has her head on straight, and gets things done. Love<3

Simone Elkeles

If you didn’t know that I adore Simone with all of my heart then you have clearly been living under a rock!

Her Ruined series is all about the love! The reason this love story stands out the most to me is because of the work it takes. Amy and Avi are living in completely different countries and it is definitely NOT easy for them. Sure there are quite a few rough patches along the way but in the end they make it all work out!

Now we get to Perfect Chemistry, the book that imprinted the name Alex Fuentes into my heart <3 <3 <3 Seriously, when I said that I love how  opposites attract, it ALL started with this book ! Alex and Brittany are so different, they live in practically different worlds but they fall for each other regardless. They stick together no matter what their friends and families think AND we even get to see a softer side to Alex that Brittany totally brings out. Plus this book has a lot of kissing and I am a sucker for a good kissing scene!

Jennifer Echols

Jennifer is one of those authors that makes me squeal with excitement every time I hear she has a new book. She has easily found a place in my heart and will forever be one of my favorite authors. Plus guys, she is like the ROCK STAR of love stories!

Endless Summer is one of those love stories that make you miss high school. I know, MAJOR shock to hear “high school” and “miss” all in the same sentence but hear me out! Lori and Adam are so young, and crazy about each other even if they don’t quite realize it sometimes. It always makes me think of that “epic first love” that only the lucky people got to experience in high school.

And as many may know, Forget You is one of my favorite love stories and I can’t really tell if it’s because the love in it is amazing or because I could spend hours dreaming about Doug…. Zoey’s resistance to Doug, a dreamy guy who is good on crutches and makes Zoey angry in the most adorable ways,  makes this story so wonderful. You can see she is falling for him but it takes her so long to finally realize it. BUT when it does happen….your heart will pound <3

Going Too Far is another brilliant one. Actually, I dare you to find a Jennifer Echols book that I don’t like! This story is so lovely, and the two characters are beautiful and broken, and they definitely like to push each other to the limits (I think that is where the title comes from) but they also care for one another so deeply.Sure they may piss each other off immensely in the process but they make one another a better person in the end. Plus Officer After…*love* he can come arrest me any day of the week!

Sarah Dessen

I could easily pick any of Sarah’s book to fill in the number one spot. She has this magnificent ability to create stories that deal with these all so real and personal stories and they just happen to have an epic love story involved. I think I am picking The Truth About Forever not only because it is my favorite Dessen book EVER but because the love story in it means so much to me (which is really quite ironic because it shows so LITTLE of the romance!) Wes….okay yes he is gorgeous, sweet, gorgeous, a bit of a bad boy (at least in his past) and gorgeous. Yes those are all reasons to love him but he is also genuine. He speaks his mind, doesn’t sugar coat a whole lot, and he cares for you with his whole heart. He is a friend when you need him to be there and he is that extra push that helps you to be your very best. This is a story about supporting someone, being there for them regardless, and taking a chance on love and that my lovelies is why it is my very favorite fictional love story!

Wow, that post was way too much fun! I will now spend the remainder of my weekend dreaming of guys sweeping me off my feet…who just happen to be pretend. But then again, what’s new?

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands (2/3-2/10):

TGIF (36) What is it about books that really capture my eye?

A Touch Awesome Blog Tour Week Three: My top 5 favorite characters!

In My Mailbox (31) A few great books!

Tune In Tuesday (46) Some more randomness this week!

Trade Secrets by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout! Such a cute follow-up to Love, Inc.

The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez. A beautiful and touching story.

In My Mailbox (26)

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. I went to an awesome author event on Tuesday (Smart Chicks Kick It Tour) so there are LOTS of books to show you guys!

**Sidenote: I am now an affiliate for Schuler Books & Music, an Independent bookstore in Lansing, MI. If any of these books catch your eye, make sure you click the picture and it will directly lead you to Schuler’s website!**

For Review:

Summer on Fire by Kevin Craig

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My Thoughts: This book has gotten EXCELLENT ratings. In fact its average rating is FIVE STARS on Goodreads. It is impossible to do better than that! I am so excited to read this one!

Bought:

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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My Thoughts: Jennifer is one of the authors that were at the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour but sadly, this book arrived the day after the event. However, I am excited to actually have this now. It sounds so unique!

**Sidenote: All of the following books were signed by the authors. Hooray!!!!**

Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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My Thoughts: Even though I wasn’t able to get Jennifer’s other book signed, I was still able to get this one signed! Jennifer was so sweet and funny….plus she knows where to find a hot monkey!

The Morganville Vampires Vol. 1 by Rachel Caine

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My Thoughts: I have been meaning to pick up this series for so long. I have been seeing so many copies of her newer books out on shelves so when I found the first two books at our local bargain store, I just couldn’t help but purchase it! Rachel even drew a little vampire on the cover

The Morganville Vampires Vol. 2 by Rachel Caine

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My Thoughts: I was able to purchase this one online before the event. In fact it is out of the five books I preordered for the signing, this was the only one of two that showed up on time. I am so glad I was able to get it signed!

Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

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My Thoughts: I have been avoiding buying this series because I have a major issue with buying books out-of-order. No matter how hard I try, I always seem to buy the last book first. For this one, I made sure I did it right. I can’t wait to FINALLY get started on this series

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

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My Thoughts: I have actually owned this book for a while, I just wanted to include it in my IMM post because it is now signed! Carrie was also another super fabulous girl to meet at the signing! Her book about the zombie apocalypse sounds AMAZING!

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

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My Thoughts: This is another series I feared I would buy the wrong book at the wrong time. When I was at the signing, I put google to good use and found out once and for all what book to buy to start the series off with!

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

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How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles

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How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: I owned these three books before the signing but again, I wanted to show off my new SIGNED copies. I love Simone like no other and this series in particular is perfect if you’re in the mood for a romantic comedy!

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: When Simone talked about this series at the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour, I was stunned to find out that the idea came to her from an event that took place in a town she used to live in!

Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: I love this series (well, I love anything by Simone…) so I am so happy I was able to get it signed!

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: Oh my goodness gracious! My favorite book by Simone is now signed by SIMONE! I <3 Alex Fuentes like no other, and like Simone Elkeles, I will take all three Fuentes brothers, for myself, at one time <<<< her words, not mine….okay, I may have said something similar ;)

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: The hot romance in these books….you just can’t get much better!

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

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My Thoughts: Nooooo :( I do not want this series to be over so I am putting off reading the last book. I have come to love the Fuentes brothers and as much as it pains me to see their stories end, I have enjoyed them greatly!

Well that is it for the books I received this week! I spent way too much money but I am thrilled with my purchases. Be sure to leave a link to your IMM post so I can check out what books you got in your mailbox!

TGIF (15)

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:

Books to Television:

Which books would you love to see made in to a tv series? or movie?

Oh goodness! You guys may be shocked by my answer for this question but I only have two. That’s right, you heard me correctly. Only TWO books that I would like to see turned into a TV series or a movie!

First would be Divergent by Veronica Roth. I talked about this in one of my frist vlogs but I’ll explain again. I loved that book so much! Veronica’s details of the broken down Chicago city were awesome and I just know that with all of the technology at the disposal of Hollywood, they could make it look quite amazing. The action, love, mystery and altogether awesomeness of that book would make for a super great movie. Also, I love how vague her descriptions of the characters were. While reading the book it was irritating but for adapting the book into a film, that allows for some creativity and a lot of freedom to choose the perfect actors.

Second would be Perfect Chemistry  by Simone Elkeles. There is only one name that needs to be uttered to explain this one: Alex Fuentes. My good god, I can only imagine how gorgeous the actor would be playing Alex (pictures shown below are of Alexander F. Rodriguez, the god who plays Alex in Simone’s book trailers). The amount of drooling coming from my mouth while watching that show would be totally unacceptable and borderline crazy but I don’t even care. I only want to see my favorite Latino boy come to life for one night a week. Is that too much to ask for?

*Faints from too much epic hotness being on one computer screen*

On Katelyn’s Blog This Week (9/2-9/9):

Tune In Tuesday (24)

The Virgin Diaries

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin + Giveaway (Ends 9/15)

TGIF (13)

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 Associations:

Which genre, authors, or particular books do you think people associate with your reading style?

Oh my goodness gracious, this is such a fun question and probably one of the easiest ones I have ever had to answer! Seriously, you guys were probably getting a bit tired of my super long lists that are also known as my TGIF posts. Anyway, when people think of me and my blog, it’s safe to assume they think about Young Adult books but more specifically Contemporary Fiction. I LOVE reading mystery, paranormal romance, historical fiction, etc. BUT my heart truly lies with Contemporary books. They are just so full of awesomesauce!

When people think of particular authors, I hope with all of my heart they think of the few that I ramble about week after week. Most importantly there is Sarah Dessen. She is my writing rock star and I really don’t know what I’d do without her books. Other loves of mine that everyone should read at least one book by are Diana Peterfreund, Jennifer Echols, Melina Marchetta, and Simone Elkeles. The Secret Society Girl series, Forget You, Jellicoe Road, and the How to Ruin series are books that fill my heart with happiness. (Notice how I threw book recommendations in there? I am just a sneaky ninja like that!)

Now for the books in particular! The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, and This Lullaby are my three favorite Sarah Dessen books so my smiling face should always come to mind when reading those! I would love to say Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta but my darling Ashley at Books From Bleh To Basically Amazing is the only person I picture when thinking of that book (Seriously, she will recommend that book to a ROCK, but at the end of the day she is still spreading the love for one of the best books ever written). For the people who know of my rocker girl-ish side (I REALLY love good music, if you didn’t know already!), I hope that books like Audrey, Wait! and Five Flavors of Dumb pop into your head when you think of Katelyn from Katelyn’s Blog!

Now let me know what you think! Did I guess what genres, authors, and books come to mind when you think of me?

This week on Katelyn’s Blog (8/19-8/26):

Instructions for an Inexperienced Lover by Amanda Leduc

A Potential Problem by Jennifer Groepl

Tune-In Tuesday (22)

Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith Book Trailer + Giveaway (ends 8/31)

Alex Charles: The Evening Oak by Kim Reynolds

TGIF (11)

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:

Author Block Party:

If you could gather a handful of authors to hang out with, who would you choose? 

This is the post in which authors will (if they haven’t already) start thinking I am Creep Mc.Creepster. There are a TON of authors who I think are made of awesomesauce. I have read books by most of them, I have chatted with a few (very few! I am still uber shy) on Twitter, and the rest I stalk whether it be on their vlog, blog, or through Twitter. So if I were to have the most awesome of awesome parties I would send out invites to… (Keep in mind that my version of handful is A LOT. I am just greedy like that)

Sarah Dessen & Melina Marchetta are Y.A. Contemporary Goddesses! I am 99.999% sure that books don’t get much better than theirs do. Sarah has been a favorite of mine since I first started reading Y.A. I will always love her books for the simple fact that they got me so completely hooked on reading. I have only read one by Melina Marchetta but I can say with confidence that I will absorb, adore, love, and cherish every book that she writes. I would probably burst with happiness if I were in the same room as them!

Yvonne Collins, Sandy Rideout, Simone Elkeles, and Jennifer Echols have all created some of the best books. Yvonne and Sandy have these light, easy reads that can make you laugh and cry within the span of a few pages. Simone is a genius when it comes to creating hot, Latino boys that I want to keep for myself (the books themselves aren’t too bad either ;) you should probably read them if you haven’t already!). Jennifer Echols is the author I probably fan-girl the most. She makes some seriously HOT scenes in her books! I could die a happy person if I were able to meet all of them!

Elizabeth Eulberg, Antony John, and Robin Benway all put my two favorite things together, books and music. For Elizabeth, she took the rock stars known as The Beatles and mixed them with a wonderful main character to create a book I love, The Lonely Hearts Club. Antony John’s Five Flavors of Dumb was such a wonderfully unique story about a deaf girl managing a rock band. Perhaps my favorite of all of them is Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway. This  is a book in which there are no words to describe the musical goodness that comes from it. I imagine myself, along with these three authors, would have lots to talk about between books and music!

Diana Peterfreund is another favorite of mine, of course! I would probably interrogate her on her Secret Society Girl series. The story is just so incredibly well-written and full of mystery & romance. I am dying to know if any of the stories are true!

Kiersten White is hilarious. I could just watch her stream of Tweets day & night and be completely entertained.

 Stephanie Perkins created Etienne St. Clair. That should be enough to convince ANYONE to invite her to their party.

Stacey Kade. I talked to her once on Twitter….about pizza. It was the greatest fan-girl moment of all time. I love, love, love her book The Ghost and the Goth! She was able to do the whole character switch-er-roo thing so well and I love how her characters play so well off of each other. I can guess that Stacey and I would have a wonderful conversation about ghosts and if that doesn’t work out, there is always pizza!

 Gae Polisner, author of The Pull of Gravity, a book I have NOT read, would be a definite invite to my author block party. Not only is Gae super nice and generous but she is funny, like REALLY funny! I will sometimes just read through her Facebook updates for fun. And trust me on this one, it is lots of fun!

Karsten Knight is another author of a book that I have not read before. I would invite Karsten for the simple fact that he will have the whole party laughing; there is no doubt about it. I even subscribed to his Youtube channel because I find him so freaking hilarious! 

 Carrie Harris, yet again, have not read her book but I think we could have a good conversation about zombies and book bloggers who stick plungers in their head.

 Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman, co-authors of Sirenz are two more goofballs I’d love to meet. Charlotte is always dropping sweet, funny, random tweets and I love her for it. She has even convinced me to purchase a red pair of shoes to wear while reading her book!

I would also like to add one more to this list. LK Gardner-Griffie is such a sweetheart! I have yet to read her book, Misfit McCabe but trust me, I hope to make that very soon!

There are all the authors I would invite to my bookish party of awesome. I am sure there are many, many more but that is all I could think of off the top of my head. Don’t forget to let me know what you think of my guest list and of course, leave a link to your TGIF post and I’ll be sure to check it out!

This week on Katelyn’s Blog (8/5-8/11):

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

In My Mailbox (22)

Tune-In Tuesday (20)

Friday Is Forever Tour

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)

The Best of Twenty-Ten

Wow! I can’t believe this year is coming to an end. So many exciting, terrible, magnificent, and strange things have happened this year. Influenced by my friends Caroline and Mrs. Andersen (It is still strange to call a former teacher by her first name. It is Sarah by the way), I compiled a list of all of my favorites of the past year. Enjoy!:

1. Best vacation: Spring Break with my best friend, Kati. We went all the way to California. It exceeded all of my expectations on what I thought would be the perfect spring break.

Kati and I posing on a beach in Cali!!

2. Best concert: This is a tie between Warped Tour and The Travelin Show. Both of which featured some amazing bands (We The Kings, The Summer Set, Artist Vs. Poet, etc.) The Travelin Show even featured the man I will one day marry. Ok I am joking but hey, a girl can dream can’t she? (Just look at his dimples; they get me every time!)

Artist vs. Poet threw that monster can at me! I was so excited.

Ohh goodness! He doesn’t realize it yet, but this guy is going to be my husband one day. Just look at those dimples!

3. Best CD: This was an easy decision since Taylor Swift’s third CD, Speak Now, is still on constant replay. It is full of awesomeness.

4. Best new activity: Joining book club has been awesome. It has only added more fuel to the fire. I just can’t seem to stop reading…ever! Ohh, and making this blog has also been pretty fantastic; I am addicted!

5. Best birthday present: My new bedroom of course! Here are the pictures that I promised a few weeks ago:

6. Best movies: There really has been some great movies this past year. The ones that stuck with me the most were Eclipse, Harry Potter, Due Date, Life As We Know It, and The Other Guys.

7. Best books: I can’t choose just a few! Here are all of my favorite 2010 books. (Note: Not all were released this year, just read by me in 2010)

Beautiful Creatures By Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Darkness By Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City if Ashes by Cassandra Clare

 City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Ruined (How to Ruin 1-3) by Simone Elkeles

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Wake by Lisa McMann

8. Best shinning moment: Hmm… this is a tough one. There was graduation, honors night, or placing at states for BPA (Business Professionals of America, it’s really cool, you should be jealous!). Ohh, what the heck, I guess they all win.

9. Best friend: Of course this award goes to Kati. Even though we are going to separate schools now and both have extremely busy schedules, we still find time to be there for each other. I don’t know what I’d do without her!

10. Best family: Well mine of course! They are loud, annoying, and extremely obnoxious but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation by Simone Elkeles

Title: How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation (How to Ruin #3)

Author: Simone Elkeles

Publisher: Flux

Pages: 257 paperback

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Last but definitely not least we have How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation, the last book in the Ruined series. It makes me extremely sad that I will not be hearing from one of my favorite characters anymore. In all honesty, Amy is witty, sarcastic, snotty, and is someone who never misses a chance to speak her mind. Now before I dwell on how much I am going to miss Amy, let’s move on to the final review:

Guess who’s jetting off to the Holy Land this summer!

Yes, it’s me—Amy Nelson-Barak. I’ve volunteered for ten days of military training in Israel with my friends. The Sababa brochure said it would be a “fun” summer experience. Okay, so I didn’t sign up to prove I’m not a princess…I did it to surprise my hot Israeli boyfriend stationed at the same base.  

 Too bad nobody told me:

– It’s hot in the Negev desert…like, so hot your makeup melts off and you get under-boob sweat spots.

– You can’t sleep in until 11 a.m. 

– You shouldn’t kill bees with your flatiron—don’t ask.

– Peeing in a hole isn’t easy (when you’re a girl)—double don’t ask. 

When I find out our team leader is my boyfriend Avi, I’m totally psyched…until I learn he has to treat me like all the other recruits. Can you say OY VEY! (Summary, courtesy of Amazon.com)

What a great end to a great series! Amy’s summer vacation is going to turn out a little different than she expected. She signs up for a program that lands her in a ten day army-training program in Israel. Others signed up for the program to become closer to their Jewish roots. However, Amy had ulterior motives; Avi is stationed there! Leave it to Amy to cause trouble within the first five minutes she lands on the army base. When Amy first sees Avi she expects him to be jumping for joy; of course, he doesn’t. He even admits to Amy that he doesn’t want her there. After a few arguments and sum unraveled truths, Amy and Avi end their struggling relationship. Regardless of how heartbroken she is, Amy decides to tough it out the rest of the army experience. Can Amy learn to put the past behind her and learn to fight for her relationship with Avi? The whole ten days is filled with funny, awkward, and sometimes sad moments; mix that with break-ups, hook-ups, and make-ups, then you know you have an excellent book!