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October 25, 2014

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)
Picture courtesy of Goodreads
Author: Rick Yancey
Series: The Fifth Wave #1
Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Pages: 480
Review by: Tessa




The 1st Wave: Light's Out
The 2nd Wave: Surf's Up
The 3rd Wave: Pestlience
The 4th Wave: Silencer
The 5th Wave.........

"But if I'm it, the last of my kind, the last page of human history, like hell I'm going to let the story end this way. I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway. I am the one not running but facing. Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield."

The aliens have come, but not in peace. The only thing that will be in pieces is the human race. 

Cassie has survived the first four waves. She is supposedly a member of the "lucky" humans who were not exterminated but the aliens....yet. Cassie knows there will be a 5th wave, and that the odds of her surviving it again are not very high. But Cassie made a promise, and nobody, not even ET's revenge-seeking family, will stop her from fulfilling it.


October 20, 2014

Book Blitz | Follow Me Home by Monica Goulet







Follow Me Home
Release Date: 09/16/ 14

Summary from Goodreads:

16-year-old Kelsey thinks her new house far away from Tulsa is the perfect place to escape her past—until she meets Jay, the boy who used to live there.

After a series of mysterious break-ins at the house, Kelsey discovers the culprit is Jay, but before she can confront him, Jay inadvertently sets in motion a series of events that leave Kelsey and her family devastated and wind Jay up in juvie.

Desperate to fix things, Kelsey confronts him only to discover Jay’s not the delinquent she expects, but a boy with a past more messed up than hers. Against her better judgment, the two of them form an unlikely friendship she keeps secret from everyone.

Then Jay asks for a favor she didn’t see coming – one that leaves Kelsey torn between her growing loyalty to Jay and throwing away the new future she worked so hard to build.

October 19, 2014

BookBlogWriMo 2014 Introduction Post



Welcome to our latest blogging challenge, BookBlogWriMo 2014, hosted by Book Bumblings.

Basically, it is a version of NaNoWriMo for book bloggers.

The crash course for NaNoWriMo:
Writers are given one month to write a novel of about 45,000 words.

This is extremely ambitious, and some people might even think it is impossible. But, some popular books started as NaNoWriMo projects, like Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Unfortunately, we are too busy this time of the year to participate in NaNoWriMo, but Max and Cassia have both done NaNoWriMo camps in the summer.

So, when I stumbled upon Book Bumbling's amazing idea for a blogger version I was immediately up for the challenge.

If you have been following our blog for a while, you will know that we recently starting revamping our blogging efforts. We have been posting consistently about 3-4 times a week. This is incredible compared to our first months when we only posted about once per week.

Even though we have come a long way, we still want to improve. Posting every day is our ultimate goal, but it is a hard transition. So, we are hoping that this challenge will be good practice and might become a habit.

A big thank you to Book Bumblings for creating the challenge. We are excited to start!

Also, it is not too late to sign up. You do not have to post every day. We understand that life gets in the way. That is the point of the challenge, to try and get used to balancing life and blogging.

All of the links to our other posts for this challenge will be listed here too.

Day 1: History of Crazy for YA
Day 2: How We Read
Day 3: Where We Read
Day 4: Why We Read and Why We Blog
Day 5: Where We Blog
Day 6: Our Favorite Childhood Books
Day 7: Our Blog's First Design
Day 8: My Blogging Toolkit
Day 9: My Blogging Workflow
Day 10: Memes we Meme
Day 11: Our Top Ten Most Popular Posts
Day 12: Advice for Newbie Blogger
Day 13: Our Review Process
Day 14: Our Ratings System
Day 15: Favorite Blogging Things
Day 16: Least Favorite Blogging Things
Day 17: Our Favorite Book Tropes
Day 18: Our Favorite Subgenres
Day 19: My TBR List
Day 20: Best Books of 2014
Day 21: Our First Reviews
Day 22: Show Me Your Shelves
Day 23: Our Book Boyfriend Criteria
Day 24: Our Reading Cave Fantasies
Day 25: How I Deal With Book Hangovers
Day 26: Cheating on Book: Our Favorite Movies and TV Shows
Day 27: Authors We Are Thankful For
Day 28: Book Pet Peeves
Day 29: The Future of Crazy for YA
Day 30: Wrap-Up

The link to sign up and the schedule is posted below.

Visit Book Bumblings to join the fun!


#BookBlogWriMo Schedule
Click the schedule to sign up!



October 15, 2014

Blog Tour | Prophecy by Julie Anne Lindsey



Prophecy
(Calypso, #1)
by Julie Anne Lindsey
Release Date: 10/06/14
Kensington Books

Summary from Goodreads:

On the other side of death, is destiny.

Callie Ingram is spending her senior year focused on one thing: swimming. Her skill as a competitive swimmer is going to secure a scholarship and her future, or so she hopes. She has big plans, and Liam Hale, her gorgeous new neighbor, isn’t going to affect them. But when Callie sees Liam beheading someone, she learns his family has a secret that will change everything. The Hales are Vikings, demi-gods who’ve been charged by The Fates to find their new destined leader.

Callie’s caught in the middle of a budding Norse apocalypse, in love with Liam Hale and desperate to protect her best friend...who the Hales believe is marked for transformation. 

Putting the clues together as fast as she can, can discovers she has the power to rewrite destiny, 
for herself and all humankind.



Buy Links:


About Julie:



Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s 
a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio 
with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day 
she plans to change the world.

Find Julie online:

Julieannelindsey.com
Find Me on Facebook!
Tweet Me!!
Read with me on Goodreads
Pin with me on Pinterest
Blogging at Musings from the Slush Pile
Capturing life on Instagram

Prophecy Playlist
AKA Songs my neighbors are completely sick of hearing

By Julie Anne Lindsey

I couldn’t create without music, so it makes sense that music is a huge part of my writing
process. I leave my list on shuffle for the most part, but there are times....scenes....songs that
*need* one another. These are a few of the songs I played to death as Prophecy came to life.

American Kids – Kenny Chesney (playing on hidden speakers in deli as story opens chp 1 – also for some general school scenes)
Redneck Woman – Gretchen Wilson (while Callie’s getting ready for school chp 2)
Florida Georgia Line – Cruise (Playing in Justin’s Jeep when he picks her up and they hang before work chp 5)
Just Like Heaven – The Cure (school pool scenes)
Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) – Big and Rich (As Justin’s bonfire begins chp 10)
Cobrastyle - Teddybears (fight in the forest chp 10)
Come Home – One Republic (Liam & Callie’s first kiss chp 11)
Leave out All the Rest – Linkin Park (Liam’s headspace as he toils with the danger to Callie he can’t
control)
This Afternoon – Nickelback (In Callie’s kitchen when they all have lunch chp 14)
I Will Follow you into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie (when Liam and Callie kiss outside her house chp 14)
Never Say Never – The Fray (in Liam’s room...<3 chp 19)
She’s Country – Jason Aldean (Callie arrives at school embracing her curves, clothes & heritage chp 21)
Legions of Doom – Audiomachine (Battle scene)
Unwritten- Natasha Bedingfield (Final scene. We know absolutely anything can happen for her now – and it will *spoilers for sequel* Goddess, coming 2016)
Hope you enjoyed the look inside my process!
Xoxox
Julie

GIVEAWAY

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Blog Tour Organized by:


October 12, 2014

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner

These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1)These Broken Stars

Authors: Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner
Series: Starbound #1
Release Date: December 10, 2013
Pages: 374
Review by: Max

Lilac LaRoux, heiress extraordinaire, and Tarver Merendsen, war hero extraordinaire, run into a bit of a problem when their spaceship decides to stop working and drops them off on an abandoned planet with no other survivors.

With no means to communicate, no information about they planet they've been stranded on, and some creepy things happening on the aforementioned planet, the only hope Lilac and Tarver have lies in each other.

This book tells the complicated tale of their adventures on the planet and struggle to get home, get along with each other, and survive in a harsh, harsh world, and I only have good things to say about it.

October 10, 2014

The Friday 56 #16

The Friday 56

This is a weekly meme hosted over at Freda's Voice.

The rules are simple-- grab the book you are currently reading and turn to page 56 (or 56% of your e-reader). Then copy a few sentences and post them.

These are the books we are currently reading and a snippet of page 56.



Max
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1)

"The soldier disappeared, closing the door behind him. The driver didn't hesitate. With a cry and the snap of a whip, the coach lurched forward. I felt an icy tumble of panic. What was happening to me?"

Tessa

I am currently re-reading The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy in anticipation of The Infinite Sea. I almost forgot how good of a book it was!

"Every man walked around armed to the teeth; it was the Wild West all over again."

The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave, #1)


Cassia


Page 112 again, guys. Sorry 'bout that.


E by Kate Wrath


"My mouth is hanging, my eyes scanning his face. This isn't the opening I'd hoped for. And his barely-suppressed hostility sets me off-balance before I've even started the conversation. 'You know what,' I finally say."

October 7, 2014

Release Day Blitz | Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander


Love and Other Unknown Variables
Release Date: 10/07/ 14
Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he’ll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe’s greatest unanswered questions. He’s that smart. But Charlie’s future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl’s neck. 

The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she’s counting on the present. She’s not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop—until she learns he’s a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy.

By the time he learns she's ill—and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte’s illness— Charlotte’s gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he’s always relied on or the girl he’s falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared).



Buy Links:
AmazonBarnes& NobleKoboBooks

October 6, 2014

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

The Looking Glass Wars
The Looking Glass Wars (The Looking Glass Wars, #1)
Picture Courtesy of Goodreads

Author: Frank Beddor
Series: The Looking Glass Wars #1
Release Date: September 26th, 2006
Pages: 364
Review by: Tessa




Everyone knows the beloved story of Alice and Wonderland. The caterpillars, singing flowers, and a certain smiling cat make this mysterious land even more wonderful. But, we heard the wrong story.

Alyss Heart, as her name is truly spelled, is the adored princess of Wonderland. She is almost the complete opposite of her lunatic aunt, Redd Heart. Alyss has been safely living the glamorous life of a young princess in Wonderland, while her scheming aunt is locked away. Alyss' potential as a queen is growing, as is her pure imagination. But another Heart is anxiously awaiting her chance to rise to the throne, and her intentions are far from innocent.


October 5, 2014

Upcoming Releases | Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Well guys, the end is finally coming. The Percy Jackson series one of few series that I have been religiously following since the beginning (the other ones being the Harry Potter series, the Divergent trilogy, and The Mortal Instruments series).

We have been through a lot together; an amazing five series starter, a spin-off with Egyptian mythology, and two terrible movies. We have been left with some pretty awful cliffhangers (no pun intended).

The Blood of Olympus, the last book in the Percy Jackson series, is going to be released in two days, on October 7th, 2014.

The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5)

*IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE REST OF THE SERIES, STOP HERE BECAUSE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!*

The summary from Goodreads:

"Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over."


I have a few crackpot theories about what is going to happen:

1. This one may be more of a wish then a theory, but I think that something bad is going to happen to either Jason or Piper. Honestly, I never really liked either of them. Jason is so detached from everything, and he is like the opposite of the Percy Jackson we have all come to know and love. Sorry Jasper fans.
2. Leo is definitely going to go back for Calypso, but I do not know how. IT JUST HAS TO HAPPEN!
3. Nico is going to have to face Percy and say how he really feels. I still am not entirely on board with this whole turn of events, but I feel bad for Nico. We all know that someone is going to die, and I can honestly see Nico as that person, like he is about to confess to Percy, then, BAM! dead.
4. Octavian is going to try to destroy Camp Half-Blood, but he is going to end up dying. No question.
5. There is going to be a fight between the Seven to see which of them is going to sacrifice themselves as the two demigods that Gaea wants to kill. And of course, Percy and Annabeth are going to be the first ones to volunteer. Jason is going to want to be the mighty hero who sacrifices himself, so I predict a huge fight among the Seven is going to happen.

Other than that, I cannot imagine what else is going to happen. Riordan's books are always so unpredictable, but I have faith in him. But, if anything happens to either Percy or Annabeth, the only blood that will be spilled in Riordan's. (Not really, but come on, haven't they been through enough?)

What are your theories? Who do you think is going to die? Do you agree with my ideas, or do you think I am completely wrong? I would love to read anything you have to say!

If you really want to get pumped for the release, watch Xtinemay's (polandbananasbooks) Crackpot theory video!

October 4, 2014

Soundtrack Saturday #2: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This is a meme hosted by Erin @ The Hardcover Lover. In this meme, I make a soundtrack of about 15 or 20 songs for a book I recently read, provide brief descriptions of the songs and what I feel they represent, and I'll have a link to the Spotify playlist.

This week, I'm doing a classic I recently re-read. I love this book so much. It might sound a little odd, though, with modern music as a soundtrack for a book set in the '30s.


To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


October 3, 2014

The Friday 56 #15

The Friday 56

This is a weekly meme hosted over at Freda's Voice.

The rules are simple-- grab the book you are currently reading and turn to page 56 (or 56% of your e-reader). Then copy a few sentences and post them.

These are the books we are currently reading and a snippet of page 56.



Max
Sweep: Volume 1 by Cate Tiernan

Sweep: Volume 1 (Sweep, #1-3)

"'What are you talking about?' Bree asked, leaning back against the pillows of her double bed. 'All we did was dance around in a circle. How could it be dangerous?'"

Tessa

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner (Maze Runner, #1)

"He approached Newt and Alby, who both knelt beside the girl. Thomas, not wanting to meet their stares, concentrated on the girl; despite her paleness, she was really pretty. More than pretty. Beautiful. Silky hair, flawless skin, perfect lips, long legs. It made him sick to think that way about a dead girl."

Cassia

E by Kate Wrath


"'Donegan,' Oscar says, his brown eyes widening as they look at me. I can't help but notice Miranda's little twitch as he speaks. She does it again when he says, 'You beat Donegan?'"