The Book Barbies: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Blog Tour: [Review] Spectral by Shannon Duffy

Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe—the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.

As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.

*thanks to the publishers for the review copy of this book*

Emma's thoughts:

I... wish I knew what to say. I was kind of, torn, about this book. I didn't know if I liked it, or if I didn't? And generally that's not a great thing for me.

It started off pretty generic. New girl in a small town with a strange mysterious boy. Yes, 'True's' back story, supposedly being in the witness protection program, sounds awesome and exciting, but it really just consists of her family being really, really protective and unbearably overbearing (oh don't get me started on Aunt Eva). It just made me cringe.

Taylor and Chase are two people Jewel meets at school. Taylor's your typical 'first-day-of-school preppy buddy' and Chase is that cute guy that Jewel is obviously not going to end up with. They kind of made me cringe too. Just. So. Cliché! Jewel said something, at the end, along the lines of that Taylor was the bestest friend she's ever had out of all the best friends she's ever had. But what? I didn't feel there was any kind of best friend bond, I didn't see them become friends. It felt like, Taylor had no friends, except for her boyfriend, before Jewel came. It was just unrealistic. *facepalm* Even in fantasy books, realistic characters are a must! And Chase with his bitchy ex-girlfriend; aagghhhh. I'm not... I can't even go there...

But that's the cringe-worthy part over!

The second half is much, much, much better! It's exciting, slightly less predictable and there's fighting! You meet new people, and they are plainly, awesomer. At the point, I couldn't stop reading because really, everything was moving so fast. One moment she's in America, next in Russia... oh and, Italy! This was really the highlight of the book, when Jewel finds out who she really is, and not just a few hints, but she really learns to harness these 'powers' she got. (yaay go Jewel!)

And I feel like I should mention the love interest, Roman. Brooding, dark, and forbidden. I mean, he's pretty perfect, but it made me want to gag. I just don't know if it's because of him or my current biased opinion on relationships right now. So I won't go into detail, but I just felt like Jewel and Roman were a little too cheesy and too in love for my taste. But then again, many other people seemed to love them, so hey, maybe I'm just being a bit of a downer.

In all, parts of the beginning really made me want to scream at Jewel and her crazy aunt, but the climax was fun to read. The aspect of being a witch was pretty interesting to read about too. Having your own specialty sounds awesome and if I could have my own, it'd definitely be invisibility :)

Overall rating: 3 stars~ Sometimes predictable but still enjoyable(:

First:

Living in the witness protection program didn't make me feel so much protected as it made me feel cursed.

Favourite:

"One butterfly always knows another."

Cover Reveal: The Jelly Bean Crisis by Jolene Stockman

The Jelly Bean Crisis by Jolene Stockman

scheduled release: August 1, 2012

cover designed by Phatpuppy Art
authors Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

A total meltdown. The whole school watching. Now Poppy’s an ex-straight-A with no Plan B.

When Poppy Johnson throws away a full scholarship to Columbia, she can only blame the jelly beans. The yucky green ones? Midnight cram sessions and Saturday’s spent studying. The delicious red? The family legacy: Columbia, and a future in finance. Except now it’s starting to look like Poppy’s jelly bean theory is wrong. School has been her life until, but maybe it’s time to start living now.

Poppy has thirty days to try a new life. No school, no studying. Just jumping into every possible world. Thirty days to find her passion, her path, and maybe even love. The Jelly Bean Crisis is officially on.

Cover thoughts:

I absolutely LOVE Phatpuppy Art, their stuff rocks! However, while this cover is not my favorite by them, I still think it's really cute and I love the color scheme. It also reflects the book summary very well and how AWESOME does the summary sound? It looks to be just like my type of read!

wanna add the widget?

What do you think of the cover and blurb?

Sunday, April 29, 2012

|Review| Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

Title: Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe
Author: Shelley Coriell
Expected publication: May 1st 2012 by Amulet Books
Genre: YA realistic contemporary, humor, romance
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Goodreads summary:

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

Racquel's thoughts:
Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe was not what I expected and that's a good thing! Going into the book, I thought it's going to be a cute, fun one sitting read and while yes it was fun, cute and I finished it a few hours, Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe still managed to weave serious issues into it's plot while still remaining to be a light read, A perfect balance between fun and meaningful!

Chloe has lost her best friends, her five brothers are away at college, her parents are busy surgeons and her Grandma's disease is becoming a serious problem and Chloe's junior project, a very important assignment that will determine her college acceptance has changed. But when Chloe is forced to join the radio station team at her high school she slowly regains her liveliness despite her being against being part of the radio station from the beginning.

From the first paragraph (if you didn't believe the summary) Chloe tells us she loves being a burrito or in other words, the center of attention.

I loved being a burrito. Not the actual costume, a stinky ankle-length tube of compressed foam with scratchy shoulder straps. No I loved the physical act of being a burrito- more precisely, of getting people to notice me- and I was good at it.

Bam, first paragraph of the book and I knew it was a winner! We all read the story of the shy girl, the bullied girl, the underrated girl, the innocent girl, the shy girl, the underrated girl, the quiet girl and yeah I'm just repeating myself now. There is nothing wrong with reading those stories but it gets... boring. However, Chloe was a breath of much needed fresh air. She loved wearing vintage shoes, she was fun and outspoken and made sure her purpose in life is to make people laugh. Definitely NOT your typical YA main character and I can kiss Shelley Coriell a million times because she broke through the usual trend.

Chloe liked being the center of attention but she also had a big heart with the best of intentions always in mind even if sometimes her actions say otherwise. But guess what? She's a teen girl! She's not perfect nor is anybody. Shelley Coriell portrays this quirky, funny girl in such a realistic teen way, I swear to you this Chloe character is real somewhere out there. I actually see a lot of her in some people I know and I just loved that so, so much. Some reviews I have seen say that sometimes Chloe's annoying but that's all the better! Have we ever met a person in our life who didn't once get on our nerve? Mom, dad, sister, brother, husband, wife, friend, teacher or boss! Chloe is now one of my new favorite characters thanks to her being comfortable in her own skin, extremely, extremely realistic, super well developed, different than your average cliches, and all around fun, nice girl.

I hope I have convinced you that I adore Chloe and you should too but besides that, the book was also filled with an interesting plot and a cast of enjoyable characters like Chloe's bosses and Chloe's grandma who is her closet friend and the rock in her life and an absolute hilarious, amazing 82 year old lady! Also the radio station group was a fun one, especially dragon Clementine. I cannot tell you how many times I laughed during her's and Chloe's banter.

Also, Duncan, the radio station technician, was an absolute treat to the book! He had home problems which broke my heart but seeing him with Chloe and how they both helped each other through their tough time was really heartwarming and sweet. Their relationship wasn't just built on attraction, but friendship and the tough times that they got through together and I completely loved that.

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe wasn't just a fun book, it also presented serious issues like drug abusive, home and parent neglection, mental illness and loneliness but Shelley Coriell managed to still make the book an enjoyable and often funny read. I think she presented her characters very realistically which is something I don't say often when it comes to YA books and the romance was definitely sweet and swoony. I would recommend Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe a million times!

Rating: 5 hearts~ absolutely adored everything about it!

Also, check out my friend Kara @Great Imagination review of the book :D

*quotes taken from ARC, subjected to change*

First:

I loved being a burrito.

Favorite:

Did it bother me that my eighty-two-year-old grandmother was still looking at guy's butts?

Teaser:

Yes, he was definitely different with his garbage. Almost relaxed.

*Thanks to Amulet Books & Netgalley for providing me with a copy to review*

Saturday, April 28, 2012

UPDATED! |Discussion| Plagiarism is WRONG

(update is at the end)

I have held my peace ever since I found out that Kristi Diehm @The Story Siren had plagiarized some blogs but today I decided to take my own advice to other people and speak out.

Long story short, Kristi plagiarized Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible. When confronted about it she said she's innocent and when showed clear evidence that she did plagiarize them, she asked for everything to be kept in the dark. But now a few months later, everybody knows what she did and shockingly, some people are siding with her! It baffles that in this clear, obvious scenario, Kristi is NOT the victim.

If you want a drawn post about exactly what happened: Smart Bitches Trashy Books does the honors of doing so. A clarification post from Grit and Glamour and a clarification post from Beautifully Invisible.

What is plagiarism?

Now we understand that plagiarism is not only straight out copy-pasting, but also the the theft of one's ideas is considered plagiarism.

There has been some people arguing that Kristi didn't even plagiarize original content anyways since she plagiarized blog posts on blogging-how-to and such and that's been recycled so much, it's hardly considered original so Kristi is innocent. WRONG! Kristi got her ideas for posts from Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible, she based of her post from their post and she flat out used Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible words without ever crediting them, that is PLAGIARISM.

Okay now, this all heart breaking and terrible but Kristi is human and human make mistakes. She deserves a second chance, no? But what Kristi did is NOT A MISTAKE. She knowingly plagiarized and she kept on doing it, she lied about it and tried to cover it up. Kristi's actions are not mistakes but they were done on purpose on her part while fully knowing they were bad actions.

Why is Kristi at fault & why are her actions unforgivable:

Because read these words from Kirsti herself (she tactfully deleted this post, but you can find it HERE)

Kristi HERSELF said that there is NO excuse for plagiarism, taking the central idea of a post (no matter what it is) IS plagiarism and that no body plagiarizes unconsciously without meaning to. Yet in her clarification post and so called apology, Kristi says:

Kristi is flat out lying and trying to dig herself out of the mess she put herself in but I refuse to believe she's sincere. She makes a post that's "plagiarism know it all" but now she's trying to say she had no idea what she did is wrong, even after she addressed the plagiarism issue and sounded very NOT ignorant about it. She lied and she keeps on lying. If I ever thought she deserved a second chance and truly thought she has accepted her mistake, it flew out of the window when I learned about this hypocrisy and lying on her part. A hypocrite plagiarizer? This cannot get worse!

If a lesser known blog has been the face of this debacle, she/he would have been shut down within the hour and it angers me that Kristi is getting special treatment. Sure if she wants to keep on blogging, that's on her but I wish people can read the facts and see that's Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible are the victims, not Kristi. I also understand she has friends and a big readership. If my friend plagiarized I wouldn't drop their friendship but I would straight out tell them:

You messed up and wronged who you plagiarized. You better apologize sincerely and know your at fault.

Yet Kristi hasn't done any of those things and now people are trying to bury the issue. Why bury the issue when it hasn't been solved? If you plagiarism in an academic environment, you fail and you will most likely get kicked out of the school. Plagiarism is not an issue to be taken lightly and yet some of Kristi's supporters say that this has blown out of proportion and plagiarism is NOT a big deal.

I think everyone needs to step back and imagine how they would feel if Kristi plagiarized them.

I dare anybody say they would be anything but angry and unhappy. Plagiarism is a big deal, it does need to be taking seriously and I will stand my ground and say Kristi is at fault. I believe she does not deserve getting off easily the way she is and it sickens me how people are willing to brush this off so easily and kiss up to her. The fact that The Story Siren is such a big blog in the YA book blogging community makes me ashamed, what happened to integrity? People will know think that if Kristi got away with it, so can they.

However I also do not condone bullying. Going to Kristi and being hateful does no good, if you really want to make a difference, take Parajunkee's advice:

You snub the offender by not letting them be heard, you don’t read their blogs, you don’t enter their contests, you don’t follow them on twitter and you do not participate in their memes. You definitely do not click on their advertising or support their advertising or affiliate links. Without a platform that blogger goes from a media outlet, to a personal blogger.

So if you want to put an end to this, do not support Kristi. Do not follow her blog or any other social media outlet, this is the consequence to her actions. The fact that Kristi has supporters saying she's innocent shocks me. Humanity shocks me! This just makes me sick to be honest. How can people follow and support a liar and a thief who implied that she does not care about her followers anyways?
If Kristi was really sorry wouldn't she have stepped up and told her supporters that she really did fault the blogs she plagiarized? Yet Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible are getting hate for speaking out and she's not doing anything to make it clear that she's the one at fault. I wish Kristi would own up to her mistake and I wish people can see who the real victims are.

Some eloquent post on the matter:

Ashley saying it how it is, no mercy like it should be:

Ashley @Bookish Brunette

So now you know that I will no longer participate in the In My Mailbox meme and that I'm disturbed by Kirsti's and her supporters actions. In a clear case like this, I wish everybody can see who the real person at fault is: Kirsti Deihm. People should be supporting Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible and boycotting the plagiarist, not the other way around. Is it time to drop the subject? No. This needs awareness because plagiarism is a serious subject and Kristi has faulted Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible and the blogging community BIG TIME.

Also, don't hold your silence! Speak out if you have something to say. Don't censor yourself.

Updated:

Smart bitches, Trashy Books have posted about how Kristi's supporters are bullying/hating Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible. This shows you that Kristi is backed up by a bunch of bullies who just like her, claim but clearly don't know what's right from wrong. And has Kristi done anything about it? Nope. No surprise there though. But Sarah made an amazing point that everyone needs to keep in mind:

What more can those of us who understand plagiarism and its consequences do about situations like these?
Keep talking.
Refuse to back down when we're told we're mean and cruel for saying that plagiarism is wrong.
Keep talking and keep talking some more. Otherwise, the theft continues.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

[Review] The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: October 18th 2011 by Scholastic Inc.
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads summary:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Emma's thoughts:

Oh. My. God. Reading this, I am once again reminded of why I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing so much. Simply magical, really. The way she phrases her words, the detailed description of the settings, the characters. It makes me feel as if her stories come truly alive.

On the small island of Thisby, we meet Sean Kendrick and Puck Connolly. We're also introduced to these mythical creatures, capaill uisce. Water horses. Dangerous, predators, and beautiful. In my mind, I see an image something like that ------------------------------------>
Not quite so skeletal, but big, daunting and dark.

The entire concept of these water horses utterly fascinates me. They're creatures from the ocean, but on the land, they become these ferocious monsters that eat flesh, and yet, are an attraction. No matter how many people they have eaten or killed, people still want them, people still dare to sit on their backs and race with them.

Puck Connolly is the first female to ever enter the competition. She's barely an adult and doesn't even dare to ride a capaill uisce. No, she races on her land mare that everyone mistakes for a pony.

I love love love Puck. She's so strong and brave and confident in ways I could never be. Fierce and a quite stubborn, she really creates quite a stir in Thisby. Orphaned and living with two brothers, she's grown up to be pretty much independent. Well until her older brother decides to leave. SOMEHOW, I don't think entering a race where people actually die, is a great way to convince him to stay, even for a while longer. Not the way I'd go about it, but anyways.. it showed me just how much a jerk her brother is! Right, just leave your siblings because you can't pay for the freaking house...

So Puck enters this race, and she's mocked and treated a joke. It's a man's race. I love the fact that Puck doesn't really care about that. She's doing what she has to do, because she needs to win. I admire that she knows that people are going to think what they're going think and she doesn't need their blessing to prove to the men that a girl can win the Scorpio race.

And Sean Sean Sean! He's got the 'dark, mysterious, and brooding' appeal down pat. 'The dead speak more than he does.' He's focused, determined, the four-time winner of the races and quite the horse whisperer. For someone who speaks the bare minimum, he's got so much to say. At the age of nineteen, he's probably maturer than the majority of the island.

It's great that we get both perspectives of Puck and Sean. They're both such interesting and unique characters, it's hard not to feel a connection. By the end of the book, I couldn't help but to feel nostalgic. I've decided this is why I like series. I get to be excited and anticipate the next book. Puck and Sean's story is over, but it's one that will stay with me for a long while.

Overall rating: 5 stars~ Another heart-stopping and breath-taking story by Maggie Stiefvater!

First:

People say my brothers would be lost without me, but really, I'd be lost without them.

Favourite:

“I say, 'I will not be your weakness, Sean Kendrick.'
Now he looks at me. He says, very softly, 'It's late for that, Puck.”

Teaser:

They haven't discovered yet that it's not the fastest who make it to race day.
You only have to be the fastest of those who are left.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tune In Tuesday [10]: The Vampire Diaries

A weekly feature hosted by GReads that showcases music.

Anybody watch The Vampire Diaries? Ugh, I know, so cliche and whatnot. BUT IT'S SO ADDICTING. I'm not afraid to admit that I do watch TVD, and I may have a slight obsession with Damon...

But aside from the absurdly amazing cast of characters, the song selection is rather quite stunning. And seriously, I am blown away by the amazing song choices. I need to meet the music selector, seriously.

So I was at a school camp last week. Five days without technology, instant hot water, toilets, and warm beds... We did a lot of singing, and I mean a LOT. But you know what's extremely eerie to sing?

Hello, hello. Anybody out there?

Because out in the woods, you're truly alone. It's a peaceful and beautiful feeling nevertheless.

Echo - Jason Walker.

Lyrics

Hello, hello
Anybody out there? Cause I don't hear a sound
Alone, alone
I don't really know where the world is but I miss it now

I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough

Cause my echo, echo
Is the only voice coming back
My shadow, shadow
Is the only friend that I have...

I Was Wrong - Sleeperstar

Lyrics

I saw you fell asleep, while you were reading
The pages on your face, you had been weeping
Then I saw, what it was, that I had done

And last night we fell apart, and broke to pieces
Our love was in the hall, all packed in boxes
And I saw, what it was, that I had done to you

I was wrong

Monday, April 23, 2012

Cover Reveal: Divinely Ruined by Diane Alberts

I was going through my twitter feed line and I came across a retweet from somebody about a cover reveal, so obviously I was very intrigued. I love cover reveals, I mean who doesn't? Let me tell you though, I was not excepting to see an absolutely AMAZING cover. I was definitely WOOOOW'ed!

Divinely Ruined by Diane Alberts

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Genre: adult paranormal (angels) romance

Scheduled release April 26th, 2012

Cover design by Diane Alberts editor, Adrien-Luc Sanders
Buy book: Amazon | B&N
Read the 1st chapter

She finally meets a decent man–after she’s oath-bound never to touch

men again!

Rebecca’s life sucked before she became an angel. Crappy apartment, awful

jobs, abusive boyfriends–it was no wonder she jumped at the chance to

escape it all and become a real live angel. The problem is Rebecca’s not

very angelic, and she’ll have to do more to earn her wings than end her

love affair with the word f–er, frick.

Especially when she’s assigned to save single father Tony Weis, whose

less-than-pure thoughts wreak hell on a telepathic angel’s nerves. It’s all

Rebecca can do to keep her hands off him…but when she loses her memory

injuring herself to save Tony’s daughter, now it’s Tony’s turn to be her

angel and care for her. But will Tony’s devotion tempt her from her angelic

path, even if it means being human again?

Racquel's thoughts:

Holy moly that has to be one of prettiest covers I have seen in awhile! I haven't had a reaction like this since I cam across the cover of INCARNATE. Has a cover ever done it's job this well?! Drew a reader in to the point where all they want to do is dig into the book to see if the content matches the perfection of the cover?

However don't forget that while the cover definitely intrigues me, thee blurb has HOOKED me! It sounds to be an enjoyable, hot romance with while also being a fun paranormal book. But seriously this cover is out of the world niiiiiiiiiiice and what I love even more is how Diana Alberts said:

Rebecca is an aspiring angel with an attitude problem, and a bit of a potty mouth. But that’s not her only problem…He perfectly captured the heroine’s attitude and sass, and made an eye-catching, perfectly yummy cover!

When I saw this cover my first thought was THIS IS AMAZING but then the second thought was wow, this chick looks sassy! I like! Best thing of all, I only have to wait until Thursday, a measly 3 day wait before I can buy/read this book. Perfecto! I seriously applaud Adrien-Luc Sanders, the man has epic, majooooor talent! Also, there is a book trailer:

*sigh* I'm in love with this cover. I actually saw the cover of the second book in the Mara Dyer series, The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, 10 minutes before I saw this one but I didn't have the same OHMYYYY reaction. That tells you something ;D The Evolution of Mara Dyer cover if you're interested:

Expected Publication: October 23rd 2012 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Two days after Mara walks into a police station in Miami at the close of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, she is committed for psychiatric treatment for what her parents believe is a mental breakdown. But what seems like a hallucination to everyone else is a chilling reality for Mara. Someone from her past has discovered her strange, disturbing secret and that someone wants her to pay. But she's about to discover that the price is more than she can bear.Dark and thrilling, suspenseful and passionate, The Evolution of Mara Dyer will have readers breathlessly turning pages to find out what will become of Mara Dyer next.

Anyways, don't you agree it's been a fantastic day for all kinds of awesome cover reveals? These two are serious beauties! I'm in cover heaven :D Thursday, hurry up please! I want Divinely Ruined NOW!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

In My Mailbox |21|

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can showcase the books you received during the week.
Since I hardly get buy physical book anymore, this more a month haul then what I actually got this past week. Ha.

For a blog tour:

Saving You Saving Me by Kailin Gow- I'm part of the blog tour for this book (May 5th) I'll be reading it next and I can't wait to dig into it!

The Shy Girl Social Club Handbook For Dealing with Bullies by Kailin Gow- Along with Saving You Saving, this bully handbook came in the package. I will be reading it, bullying is one of this thing I do not tolerate what so ever.

From Teen Book Con convention:

Me, Earl & the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews- it's signed!! Jesse Andrews is 2000% funny and it was really nice meeting him!

From the author:

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves- This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year so far and Tracey was so niiice to send me a physical copy<3
For Review:
What a Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn- this sounds just like my type of book! And Jen @JenuineCupcakes, loved it so that makes me want to read it really bad.

From Netgalley:

Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti- as I always say, it's contemporary, of course I want to read it!

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis- I am FAN GIRLING right now! I was tweeting Shannon Stacey & Jill Shalvis telling them how I cannot wait for their new releases:

Then the next day Jill Shalvis tweets this:

So yeah I'm having a mini heart attack of pure excitement right now. I LOVE Jill Shalvis, absolutely LOVE her!!

I hope you had a good week too, lovelies. Leave me a link you your IMM's!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

|Review| Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Title: Breaking Beautiful
Author: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Expected publication: April 24th 2012 by Walker Childrens
Genre: YA contemporary, abuse, romance
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Goodreads summary:

Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident—including her memory of the event. As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long: the horrible reality of their abusive relationship.
When the police reopen the investigation, it casts suspicion on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free? Debut writer Jennifer Shaw Wolf takes readers on an emotional ride through the murky waters of love, shame, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Racquel's thoughts:
I seriously applaud Jennifer Shaw Wolf for writing and publishing Breaking Beautiful, especially when the main character was physically (and even mentally) abused by her boyfriend. It's a very hard topic to venture to and she did it justice.

I have a few people close to me that have been beaten by their boyfriends and it's a devastating thing. But who can make judgment or even give accurate advice if you have never been in that situation before? It's so easy to say to an abused individual "Leave him! Stop this terrible relationship! You can do better, you don't deserve this!" but the actual doing and getting out of the relationship is the hard part for abused girls. Imagine trying to admit to yourself that you're even in an abusive relationship, it's humiliating and hard to accept. Especially if your boyfriend is of the hot and cold variety. Loving one moment then beating on you the next but he apologizes and says he'll never do it again. It's easy to fall in that trap and I don't even dare think that Allie, the main character, has a fraction of weakness in her bones. I say this because some people might read this book and say "Why didn't Allie just leave Trip from the beginning?! What a weakling!" but this is obviously coming from a person's limited perspective, like I said, there is a definite bold line between saying something and actually doing it and a person had no credibility in saying that if they have never been in the abused girl's shoes.

Now that I have established that, I would also like to point out that not only does Breaking Beautiful have a realistic main character that deals with traumatic events in a realistic way. It also has a nice murder mystery plot that wasn't predictable and memory loss to keep things interesting and I loved every bit of it. The flashbacks, Allie's gradual remembering and putting pieces of the puzzle together was enjoyable to read and I couldn't think of a better way that it could have been written. I also really adored Blake and Allie's twin brother, Andrew. They were very dynamic and it was easy to love them and get attached to them and if you know me, you know I love when family is present in books so seeing Allie's mom and dad take a role in the book made me die and go happen. Blake and Andrew were both characters I just wanted to hug forever. Especially seeing Blake get shunned by his peers and his family problems broke my heart but I loved how Allie gave him strength at the same time he gave her strength.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 star is because I felt Allie's & Blake's relationship moved too quickly. I loved how we see them gain back their friendship in the beginning but then it took a jump too quickly to something more. Seeing them tread the ground of liking each other while learning to gain each others trust was really fun to read then the case of mild insta-love hit. But besides that, Breaking Beautiful did not disappoint!

Also fun fact, did you know what the photograph of the cover was taken by Jennifer Shaw Wolf's HUSBAND? how AWESOME! There is a whole blog post about it from Wolf HERE.

Rating: 4 hearts~ a book that tackles and does justice to a hard topic all the while making it enjoyable to read. I couldn't ask for more.

Book Trailer:

*taken from advance reader's copy, subjected to change*
First:

The clock says 6:45, even though it's really 6:25.

Favorite:

Andrew beams. It's been a long time since he was in trouble. I think he likes it.

Teaser:

"Thanks for being here."

Friday, April 20, 2012

Friday Fun: Gread & TGIF & FF |13|

Book Blogger Influences: Has there been a particular book blogger who's influenced what you read? Share with us a review/book blog that convinced you to pick up a certain book.

All book blogger influence me in the way that they raise awareness through meme/reviews of books I never heard of. Besides that though, the book blogger I take their opinion and recommendation to heart is Ari from Reading After Midnight since we have very similar tastes, what she likes, I like. What she dislike, I dislike. The other person would be my co-blogger, Emma. We don't have 100% exact taste like Ari and I do but she's basically the only teen I know who reads adult contemporaries like me and doesn't have a problem at all with reading indie books. So we often share recommendations.

Q: Fight! Fight! If you could have two fictional characters battle it out (preferably from books), who would they be and who do you think would win?

Dimitri from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead ♥‿♥ and Jace from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
They are both really strong and it would be an epic, entertaining battle of hand combat. Definitely a man fight. Though I do believe Dimitri will win because he's no where as impulsive and cocky as Jace. He will underestimate him therefor kick his niiiice booty.

This weeks features:

Guess what, lovelies?! I get to go meet Veronica Roth today! WHOOP WHOOP! This is how I feel:

Leave me the link to YOUR Friday posts & have a great Friday (✿◠ ‿ ◠)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Indie Mania: Free Ebook- The Joy and Torture of Joshua James‏

On The Book Barbies, Emma & I are whipping up a Indie Mania feature that will start on the blog ASAP, it's basically and indie spotlight feature with reviews, interviews, guest posts & the likes. So when I saw that an indie author I adore is releasing a new book (actually, a novella) that's going to be FREE for 3 days, I decided what better way to give you a glimpse of the new feature that shares the love of indie books?! More Indie Mania to come!

Title: The Joy and Torture of Joshua James‏
Author: Julie Rieman Duck
Genre: YA contemporary
This is a novella (shorter than a full novel would be)
Smashwords summary:

Girls are difficult for 16-year-old Joshua James - especially the ones living right next door. This pair of sisters is more than he could have ever hoped for, and when both take an interest in Josh it’s all he can do to keep things straight.

Blonde Jordan is an angel, with a perfect body and adoring personality. Goth girl Jessa is the devil and much more than that… or so Joshua thinks. But when things start disappearing from his house, and the sisters wage a war of finger-pointing over Joshua, he must decide which one is crazier before he also disappears.

Today, April 17th through April 19th, The Joy and Torture of Joshua James‏ by Julie Rieman Duck is going to be FREE on Smashwords! I read Julie Rieman Duck debut novel and it is absolutely heart breaking, moving and inspiring though Duck said that The Joy and Torture of Joshua James‏ is

"a lighter, more humorous read with a touch of macabre and wackiness."

How awesome does it sound?!

Get your copy today for free before the offer ends! If the writing in The Joy and Torture of Joshua James is in anything like the writing in Duck's debut, A Place in This Life, it's going to rock!

Here is the link.

Author's website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Monday, April 16, 2012

|Review| Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom

Title: Ditched: A Love Story
Author: Robin Mellom
Published January 10th 2012 by Disney-Hyperion
Genre: YA contemporary, humor
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Goodreads summary:

High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her. Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom. And then ditched her.

Racquel's thoughts:
I was having a pretty terrible day and the only I know of how to cheer myself up is reread my favorite books (which I already reread about infinite times) or pick a new book to get lost in. I picked Ditched: A Love Story to read because it seemed like the perfect cure and pick me up, which it 100% was. From the first page to the last, give or take a few minutes, it toke me only 4 hours to finish it all and it definitely succeed in putting a smile on face every sentence or so because it was flat out funny. In short, Ditched: A Love Story, was perfect.

The story begins right away with Justina in a ditch and not remember why or how she got there. But as she gets up, see's herself in her god awful prom dress, the crazy events of the night come back to her as she walks to 7-eleven and through her telling two ladies at the 7-eleven why she's in the most hideous prom dress at 6 in the morning, we slowly and hilariously learn how exactly Justina landed in a ditch.

I think what I loved more than the fact that Ditched: A Love Story made me laugh every second, was the voices of the all the teenage characters in the books. The biggest thing that makes me dislike a book is realism and often with YA is how that the teenage character act nothing like myself or other teenagers I know but that's not the case with Ditched: A Love Story. Even though some events that happen to Justina in the book are little crazy and unbelievable, her voice, how she acts, her friends and how they talk is real. It might as well be my friends or I or a group of people I know and that made me love the book and every character in it a million times more. Robin Mellom perfected the teen voice and I applaud her that. I also got to meet her at the Teen Book Con and when I told her this and how did she achieve this her response was that she would go with her son to highschool Friday football games and eavesdrop on teens and write down what they say and such. How can you NOT love this lady? seriously!

Also, fun fact! At Teen Book Con, when a few authors were asked about their book covers, turns out Ditched: A Love Story has a great story to it! Mellom and her agent (I think, though I'm sure it was someone from Disney-Hyperion) searched for a terrible dress to match the one in the book and they bought the dress being show on the cover off of ebay. They had a photo shoot specifically for the cover Ditched: A Love Story and they stained, ribbed, dyed and put back the dress together just like the book describes it. HOW AWESOME?! If you want, check out my Teen Book Con 2012 if you want to see pictures with me and Robin Mellom & other authors!

Rating: 5 hearts~ I don't want to give anything about the book away because it's a ride you have to experience yourself, I'll say its a great book that made me laugh all the way through and that on it's own deserves 10 stars!

First:

Food, a cell phone and my dignity... all things I do not have.

Favorite:

"I need to get to my house. Quick! It's gushing!"

Teaser:

"Thanks for being Lord of My Blood Sugar."

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Teen Book Con 2012 Recap

Hey guys, so Emma might live all the way in Australia, but I, Racquel, live on the other side of the world: Houston, TX. So when I found out about Teen Book Con, I was beyond excited because I knew I would FIGHT to the DEATH to go and I did end up going. It was all kinds of AWE-SOMENESS!

Out of six panels, I only went to two (I stayed at each one twice) The Reality Bites panel & Is Love Enough? panel. I kinda wanted to go to the Adults are Overrated panel BUT Orson Scott Cards, who was the main guest speaker of Teen Book Con 2012, was a part of it and that made me not go. When I was listening to Cards keynote speech, which every author attended, I was rolling my eyes the entire time. I am not a fan of him, he was rude and was stereotyping people.

Jesse Andrews, author of Me, Earl & the Dying Girl. He was part of the Reality Bites panel.
He's absolutely funny and cute and just overall awesome! He's definitely one of those people you meet and are like "let's be friends!"

Ginger @ Greadsbooks!
If you follow the blog, you'll know both Emma & I do a lot of Ginger's features<3

Siobhan Vivian author of The List, part of the Reality Bites panel.
OH MY GOD, she's the BEST person EVER. Seriously. Truly inspiring & an overall great person. Her answers to the questions she was asked were wonderful and ahh she made my day<3

Robin Mellom author of Ditched: A Love Story, part of the Is Love Enough? panel.

I read Ditched & I absolutely LOVED it, I finished it in a few hours and I laughed at every page so meeting the great author behind the great book is so so so fantastic!

Jess @ Gone With the Words.
This is like meeting a celebrity for me because Jess has been like a blogging mentor that I look up to! When I found out about the book blogging community, her blog is one of the first one's I followed!

Marissa Meyer, Author of Cinder part of the Dystopia Rising panel.
She's such a doll<3

Other authors & bloggers I met but didn't have the chance to take a picture with:

The Reality Bites panel authors:

Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Grey

when someone asked about the reserch the authors put into their book and Sepetys answered, I wanted to cry. It was truly heart breaking what she had to go through and she's truly an inspiring figure.

Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Take a Bow

She's HI-LAR-IOUS. Enough said.

Lisa McMann, author of Dead to You

McMann wrote fantasy before Dead to You, so it was nice seeing realistic contemporary thorough her eyes.

The Is Love Enough? panel authors:

Trinity Faegen, author of The Mephisto Covenant

HOLY COW, this lad is extremely, out of the world funny. She made me tear up from laughing so hard!

Tara Hudson author of Hereafter. Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Wisdom's kiss & Michelle Zink author of Temptation of Angels all had lovely answers and were cracking me up.

Bloggers:

Yara @ Once Upon a Twilight.

She was sitting in front of me at the Is Love Enough? panel and the entire 45 minutes I was like SHE LOOKS SO FAMILIAR! Until I figured it out, haha. Also, she has some kick ass tattoos, just saying!

Lena @Addicted 2 Novels

Jess introduced me to her since she was with her. It was so lovely meeting her!

So when is Teen Book Con 2013? I'm there! Also, did you attend this TBC? I'll love to chat with you about it :D