April 2015 Wrap-Up

My Life

School is finally starting to wrap up. We are on the last units in almost every class and the last tests are coming up soon. But, that also means the return of finals and standardized testing. So, May is going to be a month full of color-coded flashcards, late-night studying sessions and a lot of chocolate ice cream to reward myself to all of the work.

Unfortunately, I have not been doing well on the blogging and reading front. I only read four books this month. For some reason, I just did not feel like reading for most of April. On the bright side, I think my current read, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, is going to bring me out of this slump.

Release Day Blitz | An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I am so excited that AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir releases today. This lovely book has been dominating my TBR list for the last six months, and I cannot wait to finally get my hands on it. I also get to share the news, along with a special introduction from Sabaa with all of you!

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed copies of the book and some of those awesome sword letter openers we’ve seen around courtesy of Sabaa, Penguin Teen, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway!

Find Me Tag

We have not done a tag since Christmas last year! Thankfully, the wonderful Christy and Erica at the new and improved Novel Ink fixed that by picking us for their original tag, the Find Me Tag!

The Rules

1. We are going to list 10 categories and you have to find one book in each category!

2. You can either list the titles of the book, or the pictures, really whatever you want to do, it’s totally up to you!

3. You can also tag as many people as you want, but those who are tagged are not obligated to do it!

• 4. Make sure to link back to Novel Ink! 

Review | Dare to Dream by Carys Jones

Dare to Dream

Author: Carys Jones

Pages: 260

Release Date: February 14, 2015

Review by: Tessa

Most teenagers think the world is going to end when they get a bad grade on a test or their favorite sports team loses the championship, but Maggie knows they are wrong. The world will end when Stonehedge falls. 

Maggie's relentless nightmares have showed her the future, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Her dreams are haunted with deadly red lightning and the screams of the end of the world. 

Plagued with these violent premonitions, Maggie must do something much harder than survive the apocalypse-- get people to believe her. 

Discussion | The Season of Book Festivals is Upon Us

Lately, all of my social media feeds have been flooded with tweets, pictures, and comments about the latest and greatest book conventions. Unfortunately, driving over one thousand miles is not possible for me right now, but I still love to live vicariously through all of the exciting posts (I like to pretend that I actually have a life sometimes).

Here are the top bookish conferences that I have heard about in the last month.

Book Battles | The Fault in Our Stars vs. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Welcome to the newest feature at Crazy for YA. 

BOOK BATTLES!

In this feature we will be comparing books, series, authors, or anything else book related that we can think of. 

In the first installment of this feature, two books by one of my favorite authors will go head-to-head.

The Fault in Our Stars VS Looking for Alaska 

John Green wrote both Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, but they are completely different stories.

Looking for Alaska was John Green's first novel, and it took a while for it to become popular. But, it eventually won the 2006 Michael L. Printz award. Then, as we all know, John Green's books launched into bookish fame. The book is rumored to be in movie production.

The Fault in Our Stars is John Green's latest novel. The book won the Goodreads Choice awards and earned itself the first movie deal of John Green's career.

Top Ten Tuesday | Inspiring Quotes from Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by wonderful bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. 

Today is all about those breath-taking quotes that stick in our heads for a long time after we read a book. The quotes that inspire us in our everyday life and challenge us to think differently. These are the quotes that keep us reading.

Review | Get With "The Program" by Suzanne Young

The Program

Author: Suzanne Young
Series: The Program #1
Pages: 405
Release Date: April 30, 2013
Review by: Tessa




Sloane will do everything she can to remember, even kill herself. 

This is what the world has come to. 

In the effort to stop the epidemic of suicide, the government has implemented The Program. Depressed and suicidal teens go in and hollow strangers come out.

Anyone who dares to cry in public, give in to bursts of anger, or do anything out of the ordinary earn a one-way ticket into The Program.

Sloane and James know that forgetting is not the cure, but the rest of the world disagrees. 

They are at a disadvantage, considering Jame's best friend and Sloane's brother killed himself, and everyone knows that suicide is contagious. 

Top Ten Tuesday | Top Ten Characters I Want to Stalk

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by wonderful bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. 

No one wants to leave their favorite book characters. We re-read books to try to reconnect with them, but we always want more. At some point, searching the Internet for fan-fiction and compulsively checking author's websites for the hint of another book will not satisfy the craving. And that is when the stalking starts. 

These are the top characters that I wish that I could stalk after their story ends.

Discussion | Exploring the Faults of Young Adult with #VeryRealisticYA

Like people, books are not perfect. All books have faults. 

I understand that. A flawless book does not exist, even though some come pretty close. 

But recently, Twitter has blown up with #VeryRealisticYA, poking fun of (in a hilarious way) the stories that I have come to know and love. 

This hashtag pointed out the usual, unrealistic tropes in young adult books.

Part of the reason that I read books is so I can escape my life for a little while. But, I would still like books to reflect some kind of reality. I want characters that I can relate too, who have some of the same problems that I do. 

I think we can all agree that some tropes are horribly unrealistic (and a little bit annoying) when they are found in YA books. 

Trailer Talk | Paper Towns

I will be completely honest with you-- I did not finish Paper Towns when I read it. In fact, I still have not finished it. 
Paper Towns is different than other John Green books. I had several issues with it, including that Q was whiny and had no motivation to do anything but find Margo. It felt flat compared to all of the other wonderful John Green books that I have read. BUT, the Paper Towns movie trailer has convinced me to give the book another shot. 

March 2015 Wrap-Up

My Life

I cannot believe that April (and spring) have arrived! The snow has (hopefully) stopped, trees are starting to bloom, and the weather is slowly warming up. There is nothing I like more than finally being about to wear spring clothes after the long moths of winter. 

Unfortunately, as the weather is getting warmer, my blogging enthusiasm has decreased. I find it hard to sit inside with my computer and books when the sun is shining and the birds are singing outside. 

Also, school has really been picking up. This is the time of the year that the teachers realize that there are only three more months of school and a ton of material to cover. At least I have all of the homework I could ever want. 

Books I Read

Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

My Review

Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Just One Night by Gayle Forman

Snark and Stage Fright by Stephanie Wardrop

My Review

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Flowers for Algernon by David Keyes 

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield

The Burned Bridges Protocol by Abigail Borders

My Review

Challenge Updates

I posted two discussion posts in March for the 2015 Book Blogger Discussion Post Challenge, which brings my total up to 7 this year. My goal is at least 11.

I read 8 books this month, which brings my Goodreads challenge total up to 21. I am officially one fifth of the way to my goal! But, we have already gone through one fourth of the months of this year, so I am going to have to pick up the pace.

Popular on the Blog

Last List Blog Hop for Strange Skies by Kristi Helvig

My Thoughts on Twitter

The Burned Bridges Protocol by Abigail Borders Review and Giveaway

Links to See

Lory shares what makes a good title and some of her favorites. 
Kat explains why characters like Bella Swan exist.
Sarah discusses being an authentic voice in the book blogosphere and beyond.
Ashley talks about the importance of starting to blog with a focus and how to find yours.
Bridget wants to know what makes a book diverse.
Asti wonders where all the ugly YA characters are hiding.
Rachel asks if we really need epilogues.
Kristen talks about her pedestal books.
Tara talks about the fair use of covers images.
Claire writes an open letter to book memes.
Julie talks about the secret magic of writing.
Genevieve shares the importance of books for in-betweeners.
Shaina reveals the solution to impostor syndrome.

Finished Events

Kayla @ The Thousand Lives and Veronica @ The Talking Bookworm hosted Contemporary Conversations. They celebrated a month full of contemporary books with funny and thought provoking discussions and amazing giveaways.

Olivia @ Olivia's Catastrophe and Inge and Karolina @ Bookshelf Reflections hosted the Fantasy Favorites Read-a-Thon. It included great posts, quizzes, Twitter chats, and all kinds of fantasy fun!

Upcoming Events

Alexa and Alyssa are hosting Bard on Blogs, their celebration of William Shakespeare and all of his wonderful work.

Faye and Caroline are hosting a Spring Clean Your TBR event. This event will take place throughout the month of April with book swaps, Twitter chats, and the challenge of shrinking your to-be-read list.

How was your month? What exciting (or not so exciting) things did you do? What books did your read? What are you planning for April?