Sunday, April 26, 2015

Where Has all my Money Gone?

Oh yeah, that place called the bookstore. Book, book, and book later, I am 50 dollars poorer and ready for PARCC testing. Let's talk about the books I'll blow through by the end of the week.

So I bought City Love by Susane Colasanti, I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell, and What I Thought Was True by Huntly Fitzpatrick. I am also currently re-reading The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett.

The Nightmare Dilemma: 
Synopsis-
Dusty Everhart might be able to predict the future through the dreams of her crush, Eli Booker, but that doesn’t make her life even remotely easy. When one of her mermaid friends is viciously assaulted and left for dead, and the school’s jokester, Lance Rathbone, is accused of the crime, Dusty’s as shocked as everybody else. Lance needs Dusty to prove his innocence by finding the real attacker, but that’s easier asked than done. Eli’s dreams are no help, more nightmares than prophecies. 

To make matters worse, Dusty’s ex-boyfriend has just been acquitted of conspiracy and is now back at school, reminding Dusty of why she fell for him in the first place. The Magi Senate needs Dusty to get close to him, to discover his real motives. But this order infuriates Eli, who has started his own campaign for Dusty’s heart.

As Dusty takes on both cases, she begins to suspect they’re connected to something bigger. And there’s something very wrong with Eli’s dreams, signs that point to a darker plot than they could have ever imagined.

I loved this book the first time around and I'm falling back in love while re-reading it. Dusty, is such an interesting character, she's smart, clumsy and too snarky for her own good. With Eli in the mix the book is dangerously taunting in their could-be relationship, a moment-of many- described by Dusty, "I wanted to run over and kiss him again. If only I could be certain he would welcome it, not back away and tell me he was sorry. But his swings from hot to cold left me too confused for such courage," (143). It's magical-literally-, unique, and filled with mystery and I recommend every single page.

What I Thought Was True:
Synopsis-
Gwen Castle has never so badly wanted to say good-bye to her island home till now: the summer her Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, takes a job there as the local yard boy. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

I've heard great reviews about My Life Next Door also written by Fitzpatrick and I can't wait to get started on this book. The summary seems to give the book a lively, light aura that is screaming to be read. I want to explore the relationship between Gwen and Cassidy . This book is high on my to-be-read pile.

I Remember You:
Synopsis-
Lucas and Juliet couldn’t be more different from each other. But from the moment Lucas sees Juliet, he swears he remembers their first kiss. Their first dance. Their first fight. He even knows what’s going to happen between them—not because he can predict the future, but because he claims to have already lived it.

Juliet doesn’t know whether to be afraid for herself or for Lucas. As Lucas’s memories occur more frequently, they also grow more ominous. All Juliet wants is to keep Lucas safe with her. But how do you hold on to someone you love in the present when they’ve begun slipping away from you in the future?
 

I have been dying to get my hands on a book about a bittersweet romance, a twinge of loss painting the pages. I thought this book would be perfect to fix that desire. With the added bite of mystery and frustration to what is going on, I have a feeling I won't be able to put this book down. Addictive, this too is ranking high on what I want to read. 

City Love:
Synopsis-
Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives.

Sadie is a native New Yorker. She is hopeful, romantic, and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. Then she meets her dream boy: cute, funny, and quirky in all the right ways. The chemistry between them is unreal. Could he be the one?

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources. Moving to New York City is just another adventure for her. Darcy wants this summer to be all about boy adventures—nothing serious. But how much fun is too much?

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC so she can put her past behind her and reinvent herself. The only thing standing in her way is the grand total of seventy-three cents she has saved. Then she meets a guy who wants to show her the glamorous side of New York—a side that she would never get to experience on her own. If Rosanna doesn't resist, she may find herself in city love.

Fluffy? Yes. Girly? Yes. Distraction? Yes. Perfect waste of time? Yes but worth it. This book looks like your typical beach read. Hot guys, girlish drama, and a story to ruin your expectations of your next boyfriend. Still all of these never fail to reel me into the unrealistic but complete fun world of these girls and their meant-to-bes. I've got no shame and I will enjoy every last bit of this sugar coated book. 

Have  you guys read any of these books? If so let me know what you thought of them in the comments. Until next week!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Let Me Show You

Have you ever finished a book that was so beautifully written that you still thought about it days after? Have you ever zoned out of class to think about the brilliant plot, characters, and scenes. Ignoring the lecture on atoms to play through the unexpected event you had completely missed the foreshadowing leading up to it? Have you ever wished you could find other books that were like that one, whether the voice, style, characters, or plot was similar you just wanted a book that had a tie between them? Have you ever been disappointed when you couldn't do that because you couldn't find a tool to help? I have, and I hope you have to. I'm notorious for spending weekends skipping through pages of a book, absorbing all the wonderful details and then moping the rest of the week when I don't want to move on and I just can't find books similar with my own restricted knowledge of the books out there. But, now I can find just what I'm-and hopefully you're- looking for...

A screenshot of the results to searching a book.
Amazon has a tool that they define as, "... a visual recommendation service that helps people find the right product from Amazon's catalog." It relates millions of books to the one you loved in a tumbling web of stories. And I have every intention on using it. All you have to do is write the title of the book in the search bar, click go and it will pull of tons of options connecting to that book, books that are similar, books similar to the similar and so on and so forth. But it doesn't just stop at books. You can use the tool to search through all of amazon departments, such as music or videos.  I absolutely love this nerdy invention because I'm always searching for new treasures to adorn my shelves. 

I used it recently to look up matches to Berry Lyga's I Hunt Killers, a charmingly chilling serial killer mystery. I fell in love with this book and Lyga's writing style and wanted to find books that were similar. The site gave me 123 results, some of which I had already read, that I could browse through and investigate. 

I loved this gadget and I hope you will too. Just click the link below to go to the site.