Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Fans of the Impossible Life: Kate Scelsa 
Publication Date: September 8th 

Synopsis: 

This is the story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them.

Ten months after her recurring depression landed her in the hospital, Mira is starting over as a new student at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to act like a normal, functioning human this time around, not a girl who sometimes can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him like a backlit halo. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and secret road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.

This book seems so fun and different! It is definitely a unique spin on the regular LGBT book and I can't wait to get my hands on it. Too bad it's publication date isn't until September :( 

Day Shift

Day Shift (Midnight, Texas Series #2): Charlaine Harris 
Publication Date: May 5th 

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…


I am the biggest fan of Charlaine Harris, EVER. Her Sookie Stackhouse series is still my favorite book series in the world and I would recommend it to any fantasy lover. I haven't posted much about her because I read most of her books before I had a blog. I was ecstatic to find out she was writing a new series last year, especially that it was involving paranormal. 

I said in my review of the first Midnight, Texas book that the changes of the many perspectives caused me not to get attached to any of characters. About 15% into the book, I found myself in the same familiar feeling I found myself in while reading some of my favorite Charlaine Harris books. It's that feeling where I'm so comfortable and I don't ever want the ending to come. She makes it so easy for the people and the places to become family. It's weird because it's not even that I can relate to them - I can't relate to a witch, vampire, fortune teller, and the other oddballs in Midnight. She just has a very great way of making her characters feel like family, and she does that in this book too! 

This book combines characters of some of her other novels. I've only read her Sookie Stackhouse series  so far, so I wasn't familiar with some of the other characters. You definitely don't need to read the other series, but when some characters from the Sookie Stackhouse series made appearances in this book I could barely contain my excitement. First from the Sookie series we see Quinn the weretiger. Quinn was so swoon-worthy in those series working as a Shaman for the paranormal. 

"Do you, by any chance, know a waitress in Louisiana? Works in a bar in a little town called Bon Temps?"

As a continuation of Midnight Crossroad, you definitely get to know the characters more. I think this book is more character oriented than plot oriented. I only say that because I literally get so invested in the characters and that is so important to me as a reader. If I don't care about the characters, I don't care about the book. This installment kind of was leading to a return of Lemuel, the vampire. I was disappointed that it never came. However, Barry's talk of vampires in Texas makes me feel like maybe that will take a major part in the third book.

"Was he wearing something around his neck?"

"Yeah," Manfred said. "A bandanna. Like he was part of an Old West pageant."

"Okay, then. He's a fangbanger."  

The one thing I would have enjoyed more about her new series is if it was as sexy as the Sookie series. I don't want to compare the two, but I'm hoping for some action somewhere - lol. I'm also hoping we still see appearances of new characters from her other books. Right now - this series is only supposed to be a trilogy, but I hope it lasts longer. I think there is so many directions it can go and I'm excited to go on the adventures with the characters! I will always be a fan of Charlaine Harris and I'll read whatever book she writes. I hope she has a billion projects in mind, because I'll never get tired of reading her books.

The Kiss of Deception

The Kiss of Deception: Mary E. Pearson

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

GUESS WHAT I HAVE A NEW BOOK ON MY FAVORITES LIST AND IT'S THIS ONE! Ugh, it was sooooo good. So I picked it up like a few months ago and read the first chapter, for some reason I wasn't really into it and the book was kind of long so I wasn't ready to make the commitment to it. I'm not sure what made me go back to it. Well I did and I couldn't put it down, my days were consumed with thoughts of this book. Haha are you judging me? I'm judging me. 

There is so much tension in the first half that I was loving. It kept switching from Lia's, the prince's, and the assassin's point of view. The prince just wants to go see this princess who didn't want to marry him, he didn't even want to talk to her. The assassin gets paid to slit her throat. Can the prince stay away? Can the assassin still go through with slitting her throat after seeing her? My initial first impression after that: 

"I wasn't sure whether to admire her or plan a slower, more painful death for the royal renegade."

It's SO much more than a generic love triangle book, though!! There is something much deeper unfolding beneath the initial plot that you can sense but can't put your finger on. I found myself paging back through the book several times to make sure I wasn't missing something. THEN around page 300 my reaction was just:

"I could almost laugh at Father's suggestion of taking a mistress after the wedding. This girl could make the whole royal court and half the king's army regret such a decision."

What is wrong with this book? Nothing that comes to mind. I loved every little bit of it. I just kept wanting more and more. All of the characters were so exciting - even ones that played tiny parts. They were severely unique, nothing like I've ever read before. That is something refreshing, because now you read a book and you see bits and parts of other novels pieced together into one. I could never predict what was going to happen through the whole book even though I kept trying. Words can't even describe how much I loved this book which was sort of surprising to me because I've never read historical fiction, if that's what it even is. I would classify it as 3/4 historical fiction and 1/4 fantasy. Regardless: 5 amazing stars!! 

"I will find you…

In the farthest corner…

I will find you." 

I'll Give You The Sun + My First Audiobook Experience

I'll Give You The Sun: Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

I listened to this book on an audiobook, which was entirely new to me! I've heard many fantastic things about this book so when I saw this at the library I chose to listen to it! To be completely honest, I think if I had read the book instead of listened to it I might have had a different reaction to the book.

"You have to see the miracles for there to be miracles." 

One of the things I liked turned out to be one of the downfalls of the book for me. I thought it was awesome that the age of around 13 was told from Noah's point of view and the age of around 16 was told from Jude's. At the same time, I think these are weird ages to to be having so many sexual encounters. Actually, I can understand 16 - but not 13 at all. Was it just me that thinks it's strange? The entire time I was just thinking:

My favorite character of the book wasn't any of the main characters. Don't get me wrong - I did like the main characters. Noah and Jude were cool. I mostly liked Noah, but I absolutely loved Brian. He was so different and unique, as were all the characters of this book. There was just something about him. He had flaws, he was quirky, cute, and he made mistakes. I just really liked him as a character.

Mostly, I feel the story was beautifully written. I really enjoyed how everything came together at the end and I think Jandy Nelson deserves a lot of praise for this book. I understand without a shadow of a doubt why people love this book so much and why it was optioned for a movie. Like I said, maybe if I read the book instead of listened to it I may have had a different reaction. Unfortunately, it wasn't my favorite book in the world like it was for a lot of people.

"He was the kind of man who walks into a room and all the walls fall down" 

This was my absolute first time listening to an audiobook. I commute to college classes about 45 minutes each way with traffic, so I figured it would be nice to listen to an audiobook. I borrowed my first audiobook from the library mostly because the prices of audiobooks are much more expensive than regular books! At first, I wasn't sure if I wasn't a fan of the audiobook or of the book content. As the book went on, I either liked the book more or was getting more familiar with the audiobook - I'm not sure which. I think that a big part of liking an audiobook will depend on the narrator. The narrators in I'll Give You The Sun weren't bad, but I've heard that some books have really fantastic narrators and I really wouldn't call these fantastic. I returned I'll Give You The Sun today and picked up another audiobook! I didn't listen to the audiobook every time I was in the car because sometimes I was in the mood to listen to music instead. Anyway, I think my first audiobook experience was successful and will keep borrowing them from the library to listen to in the car!

Do you ever listen to audiobooks? Which ones?

Things We Know by Heart

Things We Know by Heart: Jessi Kirby 
Publication Date: April 21st 

When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.

After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all.

Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains
 at stake. 

I was really excited to read this book because I've heard such great things about it! I was definitely a little disappointed, maybe I set my expectations too high. While I do understand the appeal for some people and there were points that I definitely liked, I had problems with the main character as well as the plot.  

 “Finding the guy who got Trent’s heart isn’t gonna bring him back. Neither is acting like you died.” 

Quinn was grieving, counting the days since Trent died. When she goes and tracks down the recipient of his heart, Colton, she finds out he's hot! So Quinn lies to Colton, and doesn't tell him who she is. It didn't bother me at first, I got it because how can you explain something like that when you just met somebody? It started bothering me because Colton was doing risky things when he was with her that could possibly hurt him, and she knew it! She still didn't say anything! I didn't expect lying to take up as much of the story as it did and it really disappointed me that Quinn would risk someone else's health for a secret and someone else would risk their health to have fun. 

Overall, I really liked Colton and I feel like most people who read this book will like him as well. It was told from Quinn's point of view so you don't really get to know what he is thinking. However, I still think you can tell what he's feeling, which is definitely more important! Like I said before, he does risky things when he's with Quinn and that's a major part of what I don't like. 

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

The plot timeline seemed way off for me. The ending happened so fast with the rest of the book being drawn out far too long that it seemed unnecessary. Mind you the book is very short, it's barely 300 pages so nothing should feel like it's being drawn out.  There are quotes before every chapter, and often times I felt the quotes just didn't line up with what was happening in that chapter of the book. I think they would have more of an affect if they related in some way to the content in the chapter. There were definitely emotional parts to this book that made me choke up. That definitely helped the book a lot, but couldn't rectify all the things I didn't like. While I didn't like it, I think that a lot of people will like this book. If it sounds like something you would like - you should try it! 

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Extraordinary Means: Robyn Schneider 
Publication Date: May 26th

Synopsis: 
At seventeen, Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it’s easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, and sneak into town, and disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down. Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

I think this is the UK cover and I'm so jealous of it:

I think this book looks fantastic especially because tuberculosis is a very serious illness. I don't care that people say they are tired of "illness books" after TFIOS. It's just another genre and if you don't like that specific genre then don't read it. People still like dystopian books after how many hundreds of dystopian books have been published! I don't think this genre is saturated, especially with it being about a very different kind of illness. I don't think I've ever read a book about tuberculosis and I'm very excited to! 

The Infinite Sea

The Infinite Sea (Fifth Wave #2): Rick Yancey 

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first book. I mean I really loved the first book, so it would be hard for it to measure up to it. The first 2/3 of the book was great. The differing points of view in small doses was something I really liked in the first book, and the beginning didn't disappoint in that aspect. There was a lot of action, a little romance, and some closure between some of the characters. It was very promising. Cassie is still my favorite character. She is strong and becoming stronger by every page of the book I read. She's also headstrong and tries not to take shit from anyone, but people still try to push her around because they perceive her as weak. I think there is a tie for my second favorite characters with Evan and Ben. They both have different traits that I like and I think they really show more of themselves in this book. 

"That’s the cost. That’s the price. Get ready, because when you crush the humanity out of humans, you’re left with humans with no humanity"

I feel like this book raised more questions than it answered, and not in a good plot twist way. It was like in a "hold up this isn't making any sense" kind of way. So, the plot in the last third of the book was completely confusing. It was insinuating that all of these important questions are about to be answered and the answers are right in front of you …. but they're not. I was also very disappointed for the amount of time Ringer's point of view took up. She's not a poorly written character by any means, I just don't like her. I even tried really hard to like her. I missed Cassie when Ringer was sulking about her life. I feel like since the first book mostly revolved around Cassie, Evan, and Ben maybe this one should too. It would have been nice to see Ringer's point of view in a novella of sorts, but not like this. 

“When you look death in the eye and death blinks first, nothing seems impossible.”

I'm hoping Rick Yancey decides to go back to short installments of multiple points of view like in the first novel. Despite the last third of the novel, I still enjoyed the book and I am looking forward to the final installment of The Fifth Wave, The Last star coming out in September. I give the Infinite Sea a generous 4 stars for the first 2/3 of the book!