Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Goodreads Blurb

After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama.
Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

I had such high hopes for Wild Cards, but it fell a bit flat. It followed a typical New Adult book, and maybe it's because I've been reading a lot of New Adult lately, but Wild Cards just seemed so...cliche. I know bad boy falls for good girl is usually Elkeles' books usually go, but somehow, Wild Cards didn't make me fall in love with it like Perfect Chemistry did.

The beginning was absolutely amazing and it hooked me right in. I was in a book slump at the time, but Wild Cards made me suddenly enthusiastic about reading again with it's hilarious pranks and meetings, the witty banter, and the awesome characters! But, once Derek and Ashtyn met (so really early on actually) things just spiraled down from there.

It was insta-love at it's finest, I think. I was so desperately hoping for a hate to love relationship, but instead, it was hate with a reluctant insta-love. But still insta-love. They couldn't stop thinking about each other, they were weirdly defensive/protective of each other from the start...basically a lot of signs of insta-love. And that was some major points off, especially for a romantic contemporary.
But that wasn't all of it. They just rushed into a romance, despite so many reasons not to and I, personally, have no idea how they were really attracted to each other besides looks. By their first kiss, they barely knew anything about each other and they didn't really have a basis for their relationship.
But it was actually pretty sweet and I did enjoy reading about it (most of the time)!

Speaking of their relationship, I didn't really...get those? I mean, Ashtyn's dad was pretty horrible, and yet...the end...if he felt that way why would he be so negligent? And Derek and Ashtyn's relationship was so hot and cold that sometimes I actually wasn't sure if they were together or not. It was just super sudden. And then Brandi was just sort of...awkwardly there. I did, however, love Ashtyn's relationship with her teammates. And seeing Landon getting one uped and duped was just hilarious and made me squeal happily. He was horrible.

So while I didn't absolutely love Wild Cards like I'd hoped to, it's still a pretty good summer read that I'd recommend to hardcore fans of Perfect Chemistry! I've been reading a lot of NA lately, so maybe that's why I started comparing it, but Wild Cards just wasn't really for me. While it was witty and hilarious, the romance sort of turned me off!

Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary/Romance
Series: Wild Cards #1
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release Date: Sep 24, 2013
Rating: 3 stars

Waiting on Wednesday

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagen Spooner

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 
Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help. 
Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?
Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.
The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

Across the Universe with Titanic? I have an hunch that I am going to ADORE this one. Not to mention, it reminds of Romeo and Juliet. So...huh. But it really does sound amazing, not to mention it sounds like my favorite hate-then-love romances! Rich girl and poor soldier. I'm already falling in love!

Blog Tour: Six Months Later by Natalie Richards

Goodreads Blurb

Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But when she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.
What happened to her? 
And why can't she remember?

The only thing you should know about this book is that I was in a thriller high/mood for a week after reading it. It was just that good.

It's no surprise that I'm in love with amnesia books, and Six Months Later was no exception. It leaves us exactly like our main character--lost, confused, and, if it's written well, right next to the heroine collecting the clues. That's the thing I loved most about Six Months Later. It was so brilliantly written that we had all these clues and pieces, but you just never knew how to piece them together until you could slowly, ever so slowly, figure it out with Chloe. It seemed like everyone had something to hide, and when you have no idea what happened to yourself, it's hard to figure out what's happened to others.

The plot was definitely filled with twists I definitely didn't expect. I could never have guessed anything that happened and all I can say is that the ride was intense. My heart was beating frantically (legit, in my notes, I wrote "Heart. Beating. WHAT." and I was just so desperate to figure out what had happened to Chloe and the rather sinister plot and mastermind behind it all. Six Months Later is a bit on the creepy side, and completely on the thrilling side.

We have a cast of some pretty awesome characters, especially Chloe. What I loved about her is that she came to logical conclusions, conclusions I probably would've made in her situation. There was no overlooking the obvious thing or somehow snatching onto some ridiculous idea. She's a character you just connect with and can't help but love with her sass and feel for with her clear cut desperation in the beginning.
The rest of the characters were unique in their own way with their own little quirks and I loved reading and meeting new characters. And God knows it was fun (if a bit frustrating) trying to figure out whether he or she was in on what happened to Chloe.

And yes. Yes there is romance. Yes there was a bad boy. YES I DID LOVE IT. It was such a sweet, hesitant romance and I just fell for Adam more than once. It wasn't rushed in any way and the way they treated each other was so...tentative. It was adorable and cute and it's just something you have to love!

Six Months Later is a brilliant read and a heart racing thriller. It exceeded all my expectations and, basically, blew my mind. Unexpected and beautifully written, Richards gives you hints one by one, but never the full story until the end.
It's one I have to recommend to you. And your friend. And your sibling. And your mom. Does your pet read?

Pages: 336

Genre: Thriller/Contemporary

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: Oct 1, 2013

Rating: 7/5 stars

---

Fiction Freak: How did you come up with the plot?

Natalie Richards: Oh man, it's so cliché these days, but it's totally true.  I dozed off at work one day a few years ago (I know--Way to stay classy, Nat!) and I dreamed that I was looking out my office window on a warm summer afternoon.  In the dream, I blinked.  When I opened my eyes it was dark and snowing outside the window.  It was so creepy that it woke me up and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  What if you fell asleep and woke up months and months later?  What if you weren't asleep at all?  So, that's where it all started.

FF: If you were stuck in Chloe's shoes, you would've...

NT: Depends on which part of the book you're asking about.  Because for the Adam scenes...ahem.  Well.  Let's go with the beginning scenes, shall we?  :-)

You know, I want to be a cool zombie-apocalypse-prepared kind of chick and say I'd determine my bearings, assess my phone records, get all Jason Bourne about it, right?  But I totally wouldn't.  I would lose my ever-living mind.  No joke.  Pacing, hyperventilating, possible banshee-worthy wailing.  It would be epic. Panic would not be a big enough word for the kind of humiliating depths I'd sink to if I woke up with dirt under my fingernails and several months of my life gone.

FF: What prompted you to write a thriller? (That knocked my socks off by the way!)

NT: AW!  You're so lovely -- thank you!  I can't tell you how much your comments and kindness have made me grin.

I've always been a fan of a good thriller.  I wanted to see if I could write one that somehow tangled a romance into the creepy and scary stuff. So, the idea of it was always there, and when I started playing with the concept of falling asleep and losing time, the characters started sliding into place.  Chloe, Adam, and Maggie sealed the deal for me.  I was hopelessly lost in this book after they came along.  No way could I have stopped writing it. 

 

FF: What six months would you love to forget?

NT: Wow.  Amazing question.  I thought a lot about this, I admit it.  Initially, I was tempted to mention some of the tougher things I've been through in my life, but the more I thought about it, I realized I wouldn't want to lose those memories.  I think the hard things in life have a lot to do with who we are.  I tend to think we need those memories, even though they hurt. 

That said, I did spend six months of my life waiting tables on third shift at an all-night pancake house.  I wore a maroon polyester skirt and a really tragic hair bonnet.  I'll give you a moment to consider the kind of customers that might be in search of eggs and bacon at three o'clock in the morning.  Yes, it was every bit as bad as it sounds.  So, if I have to chuck some memories, let's take those. 

FF: If there was anyone you suspected was brainwashed, it would be...

NT: Ah, geez.  Now you're really going to get me in trouble!  LOL! 

I did know a girl when I was fifteen who went a little crazy.  She was a year or two older than me, but a good friend.  Pretty, smart, liked to goof around.  She took a three-week trip across the country.  When she returned she informed me--no joke--that she was planning to move there to marry a boy she'd met.  This wasn't something she was thinking about or dreaming, she was seriously researching ways to pack her stuff and head west.  It was...certifiable the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.  She thought she'd fallen in love.  I was pretty sure she'd fallen alright--and she clearly hit her head very hard when she landed.  Fortunately, she came to her senses, but for a couple of weeks that girl was a Stepford Wife.  Way creepy.

FF: In your life, who would be the evil mastermind behind everything?

NT: Well, in reality, I'm definitely the evil genius.  Minus the genius.  And mostly only a little evil, because I have a huge guilt complex that makes me apologize profusely and feel wretched for any actual evil deeds. 

But I'm boring, so can I pick who I'd want as an evil mastermind?  I'm kind of thinking Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory.  Okay, maybe he's not exactly evil, but he could go there.  He's also a super-genius, with extensive comic book and science fiction knowledge, so I'm thinking he would be a great schemer.   Also, he's really fastidious, so he might clean my house.  Bonus!

Nikki, thank you so much for hosting!  You have been amazing -- welcoming me into the blogging community and embracing Six Months Later with so much enthusiasm.  Thanks so much for your support and for having me.  It's been beyond lovely to be here!

But of course! J AND IT’S LOVELY TO HAVE ALL YOUR AWESOMENESS.

Author Bio

Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.)  She later misplaced her writing dreams in a maze of cubicles and general office drudgery. Natalie never forgot about Barbara or those dishes, and eventually she found her way back to storytelling, following the genre of her heart, teen fiction.  When she's not writing or shopping her manuscripts, you can probably find her wading through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom. Natalie lives in Ohio with her amazing husband and their three children, who inspire her every day to stick with her dreams. 

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Week of a Fiction Freak

This is going to be a short post 

So I think from now on Week of a Fiction Freak is really just going to be updates on my life and book hauls and whatever. Today I'm not doing a book haul since I didn't get much actually, and I'm not sure if there'll be one next week since (EEP!) I'll be posting recaps of TWO events. 

So I'm joining NaNoWriMo this year and I'm SUPER excited! Buddy me @ Nikki_Wang (because I have no creativity) and let's hope I don't get too discouraged! I'm anxious for November but I also have NO CLUE WHAT STORY I'M DOING. I decided between these two ideas already but the other keeps nagging at me.

So I have a question.

Should I write a rather emotional contemporary or a Beauty and the Beast retelling?

And are you doing NaNoWriMo? How have your experiences been? o_O

RECAP

Blog Tour: Unhinged by AG Howard

Waiting on Wednesday

Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Goodreads Blurb

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .
But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

In all honesty, Fangirl didn't sound like my kind of book. But after reading Eleanor and Park, of course I had to give it a try. I mean, with all the feels I had then...well Fangirl was bound to give those feels too right?

Yes. Yes it was.

Cath was such a real and complicated character. She's, quite possibly, the most relatable character I've read in quite a while. Cath's one of the ultimate fangirls, something we book nerds can definitely relate to. But it's not just that. She, like so many other characters, is trying to find who she is without her sister, her twin. She's trying to figure out her life and watching her grow as a character was so heartwarming. She dealt with familial issues, romantic issues, academic issues, but throughout it all she tried to keep her head up and her shoulders back. She made her mistakes and she tried to fix them without losing herself, something that was way harder than she expected. And she was awkward so many times. She was (as we bloggers so often say) a brilliantly flawed character.

And then. There were our other characters. They were all so well written and so...well I'm going to use that word again. They were so real. And seeing how they helped Cath along their way, how they each showed her different things, it was, well, enlightening. And it was so realistically written and so well done, I couldn't help but fall in love with their story.

Levi was by far my favorite character (I think I love him more than Cass actually!) He was so adorable and so sweet. He made me want to strangle him when he made some...not so smart decisions, but he always redeemed himself in the end. I couldn't help but fall in love with this sweet, unbelievably flawed boy who's lanky and tall and goes out of his way to make everyone, from babies to the elderly, feel special. He's officially made it to my list of Top Ten YA Boyfriends. And my friend, that's something very hard to accomplish.

There's something about the way Rowell writes her stories. They have a simple concept, but the way she writes them makes the story flourish into something that's hilarious and heartbreaking in a way that can only be described as subtly sad. The writing is beautiful and gorgeous and so Rowell.

To sum up the review in one sentence? I fangirled over Fangirl. It's enthralling and it's so raw and it shows how we fanatics are! It's sweet and hilarious, yet heartbreaking at the same time. While it's not a perfect book, the flaws make it as amazing as it's characters and it's a book that you can't stop from falling in love with. It's stunning and endearing and something I absolutely must recommend!

FANGIRL WITH ME.

Pages: 405

Genre: Contemporary/NA

Series: Standalone

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: Sep 10, 2013

Rating: 5 stars

Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill

Goodreads Blurb

An all-consuming love affair.
A family torn apart by scandal.
A young author on the brink of greatness.
Hideous Love is the fascinating story of Gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.
Mary wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen, but inspiration for the monster came from her life-the atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest minds of the period, like her close friend, Lord Byron.
This luminous verse novel from award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill reveals how Mary Shelley became one of the most celebrated authors in history.

There were a lot of things about Hideous Love I didn't quite expect, and I can't quite say that's a good thing.

Hideous Love was written in verse, something that surprised me, but pleased me. At first. But as I read on, it wasn't as well written as I'd hoped. Verse isn't something you can pull off easily, and I'm afraid Hemphill didn't manage to reach that level yet. While the writing was quite gorgeous and poetic (as it should be. Since--Mary Shelley!) and amazing, the characters came off as flat and it was a tad confusing. And, no matter how beautiful the writing, it couldn't really make the rest of the book interesting.

I really admire how Hemphill tried to make her life seem fascinating and interesting, but it just didn't really stand out to me. It was, essentially, an autobiography written in verse--and I'm not generally a fan of biographies. There wasn't enough to really keep me enthralled. She had a love affair, she had kids, she had money problems, family problems. But they were all just glossed over, the book written like it was. It may have been more interesting written in prose, maybe, but instead it came out as dull and boring.

And then the characters. That's another thing about writing in verse--it's hard to get a feel for the characters, and that's exactly what happened here. While Mary Shelley wasn't exactly a flat character, she was hypocritical, catty, and possessive, making her a distinctly unlikable character. While I did empathize with her at times, it still irritated me and I couldn't really get over that feeling.

But the main reason I disliked her, really was the romance. Twenty five pages in, the words "I love you" are pretty much spoken, and that's fast--even for insta-love. We didn't get to see the progression as they fell in love. It took maybe two poems for them to fall in love. Add to that the fact that he happens to married at the time...and, well, we get a jumble of hot mess.

It's an outstanding premise, really, but the book just doesn't have the same allure after a few chapters. It wore me down until I honestly didn't want to open the book. Something that really disappoints me, since I was so excited to start!

So while it does sound amazing, I wouldn't recommend this, though I will admit--it'd be a lot cooler to read as "research" since it does stick to the facts and is written in quite beautiful verse!

Pages: 320

Genre: Retelling/Historical

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: Oct 1, 2013

Rating: 1.5 stars

Waiting on Wednesday

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

You can’t change your DNA…even when it says you’re a murderer.

When Davy tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, aka “the kill gene,” she loses everything. Once the perfect high school senior, she is uninvited from her prep school and abandoned by her friends and boyfriend. Even her parents are now afraid of her—although she’s never hurt a fly. Davy doesn’t feel any differently, but genes don’t lie. One day she will kill someone.

Without any say in the matter, Davy is thrown into a special class for HTS carriers. She has no doubt the predictions are right about them, especially Sean, who already bears the “H” tattoo as proof of his violence. Yet when the world turns on the carriers, Sean is the only one she can trust. Maybe he’s not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

There is no freaking way I'm not getting this ASAP. I mean, you guys.  A freaking murder gene, Sophie Jordan, and I already love the romance. UGH. And I LOVE the cover and her hair! That's like perfect and totally awesome and I can not wait for this and OMG HYPERVENTILATING UNTIL IT'S RELEASE GIMME NOW.

Blog Tour: Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Hey y'all! SUPER excited to be on this tour! Anita always comes up with the most fun tours, so I definitely recommend checking out the other posts! (You can find the schedule at the end of this post)

That is all

---

Thanks for dropping by tour stop #2! 

Today, Alyssa is tweeting with Wonderland’s enigmatic wisdom keeper, Morpheus, about the meaning of Thanksgiving in the human realm.

Splintered Fan Art by Rivka http://rivkast.com/gallery/

A moment ago, she explained how humans celebrate the holiday. Now let’s drop in on their tweet-versation, already in progress…

If you ask me, they'd better keep their eyes on Red. I don't think she's bluffing.

That's it for today. If you're up for leaving a comment, let us know what's on your list of things to be thankful for this year. Also, be sure to enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win one of 12 UNHINGED ARCs.

Tomorrow on the third stop, rumor has it Morpheus plans to smuggle in an excerpt of UNHINGED. ;) Hope to see you there!

About the Book

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.
That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.
As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.
If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

Author Info

A.G. Howard was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a child.

When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.

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Giveaway
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Schedule

10/21/2013         Pages From My Thoughts            

10/22/2013         Fiction Freak      

10/23/2013         The White Unicorn

10/24/2013         Icey Books          

10/25/2013         The Cover Contessa        

10/26/2013         Book Hounds   

10/28/2013         Reading Teen     

10/29/2013         Book Haven Extraordaire 

10/30/2013         The Lifelong Bookworm                

10/31/2013         Two Chicks on Books  

11/1/2013            Fiktshun               

11/2/2013            I am a Reader

How to Love by Katie Cotugno

Goodreads Blurb
Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.
After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?
In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Oh my God, How to Love definitely surprised me with how much I loved it! I was so excited to start this due to all my friends' love and gushing over this book, that I was a bit afraid it would fall flat--thank God it didn't!

I was definitely pulled in the moment I saw the synopsis. Usually these kinds of books aren't really my thing--but I'm a romantic at heart and I definitely believe in second chances. I was dying to know exactly how everything would turn out and desperate for the happy ending I was praying would happen. But my lips are sealed and you'll just have to suffer through this absolutely beautiful book to find out what happens and what happened "Before".

And I really loved how Katie Cotugno wrote How to Love. With "Before" and "After" sections, we get to compare and contrast how each character has changed, and how they're still changing. It was definitely fascinating seeing these alternating points in time all stemming from a moment where everything started changing. I loved getting the backstory and I loved watching both of them fall in love twice. In different ways, in different times, but still falling in love!

The biggest thing about this was that while it didn't really make me sob like a baby, it brought out so many emotions that literally hurt my heart (or, at least my chest. My chest hurt.) It was just like a buildup of emotions until I could barely breathe--oh, the feels! It's a raw story that Cotugno writes, and a hard one to write to, but she pulled it off with a flourish and just made me fall in love with her story and her characters.

Oh, the characters. There are no words that could really describe them or why I loved them. They were just such perfectly, beautifully flawed characters that I could find myself in in so many little gestures. They were so real and so fleshed out, I feel as if thousands of people are going to be able to see themselves in this book. We can't help but fall in love with each of them and we can't help but wish we could hide them from any harm. But we can't because in every page, there's some kind of raw pain there, some kind of little kink that makes everything fall just a little more apart.
I absolutely loved Reena's voice, the mistakes she made, the hurt she tried to keep buried, and the facade she tried to maintain until it finally burst. It was...heart wrenching.
Sawyer was just someone I felt like I should hate but couldn't help love. He tries to do the best he can, but sometimes it just isn't...enough, and I hated whenever he got hurt. I really just wanted to cuddle them both and never let go.

How to Love is an absolutely tragic, compelling story of what it's like to let go, and what it's like to hold on. It's brilliant and wonderful, something everyone should read. It's a perfect book about not-so-perfect people with a not-so-perfect relationship that's definitely going to hit home with most readers. Gorgeous writing, lush characters, and a heartbreakingly beautiful romance, what else can you do but read it and love it?

Pages: 320

Genre: Contemporary

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: Oct 1, 2013

Rating: 5 stars

Week of a Fiction Freak

Hey hey hey! Another week, another haul! It's been an exhausting week for some reason and even though we're barely two months in, I'm aching for summer vacay. 

Also, I feel really really stressed for some reason so I could use a hug. *HUGGLES*

Oh. And for some reason, my lighting was weird, so the picture is awkward. I tried to fix it, but...well. You see. 

OH. And these are all books I've preordered throughout the year that finally arrived! I've read HoH already and all I can say is I LOVE how all the stories I've grown up with just intersect and old characters just come back. <3 

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Across a Star Swept Sea by Diana Petefreund

Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile by Shannon Messenger

Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Tandem by Anna Jarzab

HOW IS LIFE. What did you get? Leave a comment and I'll be sure to stop by your blog and stalk your books. Because that's just what I do.

Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Goodreads Blurb

Every other day, Kali D’Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She argues with her father. She’s human.
And then every day in between . . . she’s something else entirely.
Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.
When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her, and unfortunately she’ll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive . . . and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

I got this for my birthday a while back and I was a bit wary! Let's say, I haven't had the best of luck with Barnes's other books. But Every Other Day pleasantly surprised me and I definitely enjoyed it!

So what I wasn't expecting when I started this--the fact that the entire world knew about the existence of paranormal creatures. I'm not sure how I managed to not see that after rereading the synopsis so many times! But the idea of this world was seriously fascinating. Anyone who's read more than one of my reviews knows that worldbuildingispretty much the #1 thing I look for and Every Other Day did not disappoint in that category! Jennifer Barnes pulled creatures from pretty much every folklore and I have to admit--it was definitely fun!

I absolutely loved the writing and plot. Every Other Day keeps you reading until the last page, making you nervously bite your nails and hang onto every word. The plot just keeps you wanting for more and I desperately wished there was a sequel! Seriously. There were so many unexpected twists (and betrayals!) KICK BUTT PLOT HERE. 

And since we're on the topic of kick butt, let's talk characters. Because Kali? KICK. BUTT. She was such a fierce fighter and loyal friend! She was down to earth and reasonable (unlike some...) and was an all around great character! 

Oneof the things I love is how unique each character was. Skylar, self proclaimed "school slut" was actually a pretty innocent and (psychic) sweet girl! She was a bit quirky at times but it just made her all the more lovable! Bethany, resident popular and mean girl, was definitely more than that. She was snarky, mean, but she cared a lot. She was also pretty helpful and definitely did sassy well!

So, there was a tad of romance that I found absolutely adorable! But, umm, that's all for romance. 

Definitely unexpected, Every Other Day blew me away! (You guys, I'm totally a poet) It has an eye catching cover, an interesting synopsis, and an edge of your seat story! And? The ending was perfect! Absolutely. Perfect. 

Pages: 336

Genre: Paranormal/Sci-fi

Series: Stand alone

Publisher: Egmont USA

Release Date: Dec 27, 2011

Rating: 4 stars

Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Goodreads Blurb

Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.
The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.
Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted.
Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending...

Oh my dear God, I can not tell you guys how much I loved this book. I was a bit wary going into it since I'd just broken a book slump, but I loved Suzanne Young's Program, so I thought why not?
And Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young are an absolutely brilliant writing pair--I honestly hope they write more books together. I will officially read anything by them.

"It's just...the point is yeah, we're fated to live a certain life. But it's not like we're being mind controlled or anything."

The thing about this book is that it can be ruined by the smallest thing. Having two stories with the same cast of characters is going to be hard, but I feel like our authors pulled it off beautifully. The story, or stories, are just so wonderful and sad, and they left an ache in my heart. I loved how it all circled back to only one ending and how amazing that ending was. I loved how we got to finally see the two outcomes of one choice, and how just one decision changed the course of her life. And I loved how, in both versions, you still adore the characters, and you still get the meaning of it all.

"There's a little thing called free will."

I feel like the stories would've been stunning on their own, but with both, it just enhances the read and makes everything so much more...hopeful. Beautiful. Amazing. It's a fascinating way to tell a story, to tell a story twice, and I couldn't help buy laugh and cry at certain parts, when one version of the story paralleled with the other, when we meet old characters for the first time again, and when you realize what's finally happening.

"(...) we have freedom to make mistakes. (...) I'm saying that our mistakes--one mistake or many of them--don't define us. They don't derail us."

Just Like Fate is about so many things. It's about coping with loss, it's about running away or facing your mistakes. It's about familial and romantic love, and it's about figuring out which road you should take. But most of all, it's about fate.
The way Caroline interacted with some of the other characters broke my heart and other times, they made me laugh. Her relationship with so many of the characters were so real, despite a few being rushed. They were real characters with real feelings and you couldn't help but love them all, in the end.

"But hopefully having learned something from our stumbles..."

Just Like Fate is one I have to recommend to everyone. It's a story that's both heart wrenching and hopeful, one that's filled with grief and love, and one that will touch you in that rare way only a book can.

"...Having grown into better people because of them."

Pages: 304

Genre: Contemporary

Series: Stand-alone

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: Aug 27, 2013

Rating: 5 stars