March Madness: Round 1

ROUND 1

Today is the beginning of the March Madness competition. Round 1 begins with the first rated book against the fourth rated book within each genre. Leave a comment to vote on the book you would pick from each genre below. If you haven't read the book, vote on the one you would prefer to read. Round 1 voting ends Wednesday and I will announce the first round winners Thursday morning and Round 2 will begin Thursday too. Just a reminder that I will keep track of the votes in each round and the person who wins the most rounds will win a free book of choice, up to a $15 value. Good luck and thanks for participating!

           

Casual Vacancy 

VS

The Age of Miracles

Fair Game 

VS.

 Shadow of the Night

          

                   

 Insurgent 

VS. 

Cinder                                   

 Fifty Shades Freed 

VS. 

The Witness   

The Light Between Oceans 

VS. 

The Secret Keeper                  

                                 

Onyx 

VS.

 Pandemonium

Defending Jacob 

VS.

 Gone Girl

The Fault in our Stars 

VS.

Out of Sight, Out of Time 

Feature & Follow Blog Hop

Feature & Follow is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee!

I am new to blogging and am loving it. I absolutely love to read. This is my first time doing the Feature & Follow and I am looking forward to gaining new followers and friends.

Review: Matched Trilogy

Matched, Crossed & Reached

Author: Ally Condie          

Publisher: Penguin Group Inc.

I spent all weekend finishing The Matched Trilogy because I needed to know how it all ended. I have had the books on my "to read" list for a while but had received mixed reviews from friends on the books. I finally decided to go for it and check them out for myself. I enjoyed the books but they were definitely different from what I expected.

I was expecting more of a love story but to me the book was more about the ability to make choices and freedom. The Society thought that taking away people's ability to choose would create a more perfect world and while it eliminated disease and illness, was it really worth it? Cassia, Xander and Ky discovered what it would be like to have the ability to choose and is shaped who they would become and choices they would make.

I hate love triangles because I become attached to all the characters and I hate it when one of them is left behind. I sympathized with Cassia because she loved both Xander and Ky, but in different ways, and she didn't want to hurt either but could not help how she felt. Ky and Xander were different in so many ways but they both loved Cassia and would do anything to keep her safe, which is something they had in common. There were many times, especially in the third book, that my heart broke for each of them. In the end, I was happy with the choice that Cassia made and how it all worked out for each of them. I felt like the beginning of each book started out a little slow because I expected the books to be all about the love story but they were about so much more. I would definitely recommend these books but tell people to not expect it to revolve around the love triangle between the three main characters. Go into the books understanding that it is about the ability to choose and what you would do to have that option.

 IPOD Picks:

"Catching My Breath" by Kelly Clarkson

"Anything Can Happen" by Ellie Goulding
"Impossible" by Shontelle
"Open Arms" by Journey
"We Found Love" by Rihanna & Calvin Harris

Spotlight Review: Wait for You

Wait for You

Author: Jennifer Armentrout (writing as J. Lynn) 

                        

Wait for you was utterly amazing. I have no words to describe how I feel about this book. I actually got up at 5:00 am to go the gym so I had an extra hour to read before I had to go to work. I was THAT enthralled by the book. This is a new adult book and is different from anything that Jennifer Armentrout has written. She writes with the same witty dialogue as she does in her other books but this is her first New Adult genre book and I loved it.

Avery is a college freshman who left her life in Texas to go to school in West Virginia so she could escape the past that has haunted her. Cameron is a college junior who has a secret of his own that most people don't know. There is a budding relationship between the two from the beginning but Avery doesn't know how to trust Cam and he is the kind of guy that she could really fall for but could also hurt her. Avery is different than most girls Cam is used to dating and that is why he is so intrigued and attracted to her. Cameron is an incredibly charming and sexy character and his determination to win over Avery made me fall in love with him.

While the primary focus of the book was the relationship that was building between Cam and Avery, there was always the underlying mystery behind the secrets they both held. I couldn't put the book down for several reasons but wanting to know what they were both hiding was definitely a big one. I highly recommend this book for mature audiences and fans of romance and new adult novels.

IPOD Picks:

"Dark Side" by Kelly Clarkson

"Between the Raindrops" by Lifehouse

"Locked out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars

"Shake it Out" by Florence and the Machine

Spotlight Review: Ethereal Knights

Ethereal Knights

Author: Addison Moore

Last week, I posted a spotlight release on Ethereal Knights by Addison Moore to showcase her new book. I finished reading it this week and wanted to post a follow up review. Ethereal Knights is a POV book for the Celestra Series book one: Ethereal. It is written from the perspective of the two main male characters: Logan and Gage.

Ethereal Knights was fabulous. It was so awesome to re-read the events of the first book from their POV because we get an idea of what was going on with the boys during Ethereal, which is from Skyla's perspective. The male POV is always entertaining and Addison Moore doesn't disappoint on this one. Reading from from the other side gave me a different feeling about the guys, especially Gage. I have to say that I like him a lot more after reading from his perspective. Skyla definitely doesn't see Gage like she should and it may be because of her infatuation with Logan. Logan, on the other hand, is exactly who Skyla sees him to be. This isn't a bad thing, I just don't feel differently about him after reading his side of the story.

Since Ethereal is a part of the main Celestra series, I would recommend reading it before Ethereal Knights because the overall plot is more prevalent in Ethereal. This is definitely a must read and the boys are definitely dirtier and more obscene than Skyla but that is what makes the book so interesting. Check out the Celestra series books and make the journey to Paragon. You won't be disappointed!

IPOD pics: 

"Don't Stop Believing" by Journey (This one goes out to Gage)

"Enchanted" by Taylor Swift

"I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz

Blog Remodel

I just wanted to shout out to my followers that you may see some changes on my blog over the next few days. I just started this blog a little over a week ago and when I started it, I wasn't sure about the layout, the name and all the other possibilities. As I get a handle on it, I may make some changes now and then so I can continue to improve my site. So far, I have updated the layout to help it stand out more. I also changed the name because I wanted it to be less generic. I was standing in line at Starbucks this morning and thinking about reading (as usual) when I realized how perfect it would be if I could take my coffee home and curl up with my book instead of going to work. That was when I realized I had a problem and that is where the new name sprang from. Thanks for following me!

March Madness: Book Brackets Revealed

For my March Madness book competition, I have used the Goodread's Top books of 2012 list. I decided to include 32 books for the competition and I selected the top four books, based on number of votes, from 8 different genres. The selected genres are Fiction, Goodread's Author, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Paranormal Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult Fantasy and Young Adult Fiction.

To kick it off, I have placed the number one ranked book against the number 4 ranked book within each genre. To vote in each round, just leave a comment with your winning choices for each bracket. I will keep track of each voter's selection and the voter who wins the most rounds, will win a book of their choice, up to a $15.00 value. Round 1 will begin on Monday, March 4th. Below are the brackets with all 32 books. Come back on Monday to vote in Round 1!

Casual Vacancy- JK Rowling			Shadow of Night- Deborah Harkness
VS			VS
The Age of Miracles -Karen Thompson Walker			Fair Game- Patricia Briggs
Where We Belong- Emily Griffin			Wicked Business- Janet Evanovich
VS			VS
Home Front- Kristin Hannah			A Perfect Blood- Kim Harrison
Insurgent- Veronica Roth			Fifty Shades Freed- E.L. James
VS			VS
Cinder- Marissa Meyer			The Witness- Nora Roberts
MJortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls-  Cassandra Clare			Bared to You- Sylvia Day
VS			VS
The Golden Lily-Richelle Mead			Lover Reborn- J.R. Ward
The Light Between Oceans- M.L. Stedman			Onyx- Jennifer Armentrout
VS			VS
The Secret Keeper- Kate Morton			Pandemonium-Lauren Oliver
Bring Up the Bodies- Hilary Mantel			Bitterblue- Kristin Cashore
VS			VS
The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey			The Selection- Kiera Cass
Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn			The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
VS			VS
Defending Jacob-William Landay			Out of Sight, Out of Time- Ally Carter
Celebrity in Death- J.D Robb			Easy- Tammara Webber
VS			VS
11th Hour-James Patterson			Slammed- Colleen Hoover