Haulin' (4)

I totally took advantage of Boxing Week this year, and I went a little crazy. But I love books and buying books on sale...Uhh Yeah.

PS-If you click on the cover it'll take you to it's Goodreads page.

The Dark Divine-Bree Despain

I've seen the cover of this book floating around the blog world for a little while, but never paid to much attention to it. But I picked it up when I was at the bookstore and thought it looked amazing, so now I have it, and I will read it someday!

The Girls-Lori Lansens

I'd Never heard of this book before I picked it up. But When I looked it up late, it got amazing reviews and people seems to really enjoy it.

Love Rules-Freya North

I've read one other book by Freya North and I really really liked it. It was funny and it was a light read, which I enjoyed. So I am looking forward to reading this one.

After-Amy Efaw

*I've read and finished this book, I'll have my review up later this week.*

I love the cover of this books, love love love it. I read the back, and wanted to know what happened, I missed the details of the cover when I started reading the book and it wasn't until I knew what happened that I realized that it was right there on the cover.

J'adore New York-Isabelle Lafleche

I spend hours at the bookstore when I go, hours and hours, and generally do not leave with what I had originally intended. I breeze through pick up the books with pretty covers-and buy them if they sound interesting. Sometimes it serves me well, and sometimes it doesn't. We'll find out with this one.

French Kissing-Catherine Sanderson

This looks like good fun. I've been reading some pretty heavy stuff in the last couple weeks and I need something a little lighter.

Selfish is the Heart- Megan Hart

If I can avoid it I try to buy books from the bookstore instead of on Amazon. In saying that, I waited a long time for this book to find it's way into stores. But alas I now have it. And the cover is gorgeous.

Intrinsical-Lani Woodland

I won a PDF copy of this book from a contest held at Ruby's Reads, I've started it, but I hate reading from my computer, so I'm thinking about investing in a Kobo eReader. Yesssss.

And that's my haul-Happy Reading Everyone!

My Thoughts: Beastly by Alex Flinn

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.


Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.


A while ago I went to the movies and saw the movie trailer for Beastly. The trailer was good and the movie looks exciting, but I found myself saying-Oh man, that would make a really good book-Ha, I didn't realize that is was indeed a book written by Alex Flinn. I posted about the trailer and the trailer itself which can be found here. I was really excited about the whole story and I really wanted to read the book. I mean, how could I not be; a modern day tale of Beauty and the Beast, that is just way cool.

I finally got my hands on this little novel and read it in about 2 days. I really liked it. It was cute and well written. In the beginning I hated the protagonist Kyle, he was so rude and selfish and I was often caught saying "are you serious?" with him. He was a brat, totally. He got what he deserved. Let me just say what he did to Kendra was horrible. Just horrible, horrible. The kid got what he deserved.

Flinn does a wonderful job in making you dislike Kyle, and then gradually allowing you to like him. As the plot moves on you start to find him sweet, awkward but sweet. I really enjoyed reading this story from the males perspective. It was refreshing. Kyle's love interest, Lindy was fairly bland and not very exciting. I found that she did nothing really to move Kyle along in his path to discovering himself, and making him a better person. Will and Magda however were my two favourite characters. They were funny and they put up with Bratty Kyle, in a way that only true affection can. Something Kyle had been missing from his life.

This was not a masterpiece when it comes to literature. But it was a delightful story and I really enjoyed reading it. There are things about it that I am hoping the movie has, and things that are in the movie that I wish they hadn't changed (I haven't seen the movie, I'm just going by the trailer), which is why I am glad that I've read the book. It's a pretty easy read and I'd encourage everyone to read it.

Happy Reading Everyone.

Release Day-Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart

Gilly Soloman has been reduced to a mothering machine, taking care of everyone and everything
except herself. But the machine has broken down. Burnt out by the endless days of crying children and menial tasks, and exhausted from always putting herself last, Gilly doesn’t immediately consider the consequences when she’s carjacked. With a knife to her throat, her first thought is that she’ll finally get some rest. Someone can save her for a change.

But salvation isn’t so forthcoming. Stranded in a remote, snowbound cabin with this stranger, hours turn to days, days into weeks. As time forges a fragile bond between them, she learns her captor is not the lunatic she first believed, but a human being whose wasted life has been shaped by secrets and tragedy. Yet even as their connection begins to foster trust, Gilly knows she must never forget he’s still a man teetering on the edge. One who just might take her with him.

A couple weeks ago I read and 'reviewed' Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart which you can find here. This is Megan's first non-romance, non-erotic novel and I really enjoyed it.

Precious and Fragile Things is being released today in most book stores and I have the privilege today of presenting you with an excerpt of this novel to give you a little taste of what you are going to get yourselves into when you read this book. So enjoy everyone and Happy reading.

____________________________________________________________________
He shook his head. “No, I’m not going to let you go, for fuck’s sake, Gilly, that’s getting pretty old. But you want to run out in the snow again? Be a dumbass? Be my guest. See what happens this time, see if I save your sorry ass one more time.”

“What about when the snow melts, Todd? What then?”

His gaze wavered for a second before he shoved her away from him and stalked to the center of the room, head hung low. When he swung around to look at her, his dark eyes were large in his face, his mouth a pensive frown.

“Why can’t you just like me?” he asked her. “I ain’t done anything real bad to you, Gilly. Not real bad.”

“I won’t ever like you. Don’t you see I can’t?”

“Why not?” Todd held out his hands, giving her that kicked-dog look. “Why?”

“Because you’re my enemy.” Gilly pulled the torn pieces of her gown back together with one hand, the fabric a useless shield but one she couldn’t put down. Her mouth stung when she spoke, but the blood had ceased dripping. “Because you are keeping me from the things I love.”

He sighed like the weight of the world had come to rest on his broad shoulders. “We could get along better than we do.”

“No!” She recoiled, grimacing.

“I didn’t mean like that,” he said quietly.

“I know you didn’t. The answer’s still no.”

He looked angry again. “We’re stuck here, Gilly. Ain’t no way around it. We’re fucking stuck out here in the middle of noplace up to our assholes in snow. That’s the way it is. Don’t keep pushing me into being something you wish I was just so you can feel better about what you did.”

It wasn’t the statement of a stupid man but of an insightful one, and Gilly wondered at what the people in his life had done to him, and for how long, to convince him he was so dumb.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Todd said. “I don’t want to.”

But he would. The words unsaid nevertheless hung between them, loud and clear.

She turned her face away. “When the snow melts, I’m going to try to get away. Are you going to tie me up?”

“I’m not that kinky,” Todd said, “though a girl did ask me once to put on her panties.”

This was serious and she hated he was making a joke of it. “The only thing keeping me here is the snow. You know that.”

“Ah, fuck me. Yes. I know it.” Todd scowled.

“So, what happens when the snow melts?” She asked the question more quietly this time, not pushing so hard. Truly curious. She wanted to know the answer.

“I knew an old hound dog once,” Todd said after a pause. “He wasn’t mine – I never had a dog. He belonged to this guy who lived down the street from one of the places they put me after…one of the places I lived as a kid.”

Despite herself, Gilly lifted her face to meet his unwavering gaze. Todd’s voice was solid, deep, precise even in its uneducated manner. He stood with his feet planted slightly apart, hands at his sides. Telling her.

“This dog was one mean son-of-a-bitch. The guy kept him outside on a chain, and that dog would run so fast to bite your ass he’d choke himself right off his own feet. Every day, I’d walk by that dog on my way to school, every fucking day he’d try to get me. But he never did.”

Todd laughed, low. “The guy that owned him could’ve just kicked that dog when he saw him, but he never did. That guy always made sure that dog had plenty of food and water, and he gave him chew toys and rawhide bones. And every night, when that guy came out to feed the dog, he’d pat him on the head and scratch him behind the ears. And the dog, that ass-biting dog, always growled. The guy loved that dog, even though the dog never loved him back, and never thanked him for all the nice things he did for it. Then one night, when the guy went out to feed the dog and pat him on the head, the little fucker didn’t bother growling. This time, he took a big chunk right out of the guy’s hand.”

Her throat had gone dry during the telling of his tale. “What happened then?”

Todd smiled, an empty expression that bared his teeth and did not reach his eyes. “The guy went inside his house and got his shotgun, and he blew that little fucker’s head right off.”

There was no mistaking the meaning of his story, but Gilly wasn’t afraid of it. “Which one of us is the dog?”

“I don’t know, Gilly,” Todd said. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

This excerpt is copyright to Megan Hart.

Follow my Blog Friday.

This is my first Follow Friday which is hosted by Parajunkee. I've been meaning to participate for a while but I just forget. So here we go.

This weeks question:

What are your new years book blogging resolutions?

-I am hoping to be a little more involved in the blogging world, comment more, participate in more meme's and challenges, just make more friends! I really love this community and I want to more a part of it.

Happy Reading Everyone, and Happy New Year.

The Best of 2010

So I found this little end of 2010 survey over at The Perpetual Page-Turner and I thought it would be fun to do. So that's what I am doing. So here we go....

1.) Best Book of 2010? Ugh, I don't know I read so many books in 2010. But... For YA I would have to say Dreamland by Sarah Dessen and The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

2) Worst Book of 2010? I don't like questions like this at all. But a book that I really did not enjoy this year was Something Wicked by Lesley Cowan.

3) Most Disappointing Book of 2010? Fallen by Lauren Kate. I really wanted to like this book. I think I even tried. But I couldn't and didn't.

4) Most Surprising (in a good way) Book of 2010? Hmm, what made me go wow that was really good- Secrets By Freya North. I didn't expect to like that book so much.

5) Book You Recommended the Most to People in 2010? Ha, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson-I really liked that book.

6) Best Series you Discovered in 2010? The Summer I Turned Pretty Series By Jenny Han. It's a good series and I can't wait for the third book to come out in April

7) Favourite New Authors You Discovered in 2010? Sarah Dessen, I first read her in the summer and I don't know why I waited so long.

8) The Most Hilarious Read of 2010? For me it was Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. I thought this book was so funny. I laughed and laughed throughout the whole thing. It's making my giggle thinking about it now.

9) Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book of 2010? Hmmmm, Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult. With every one of her books I find that I enter a zone of 'don't contact me until I am done this book'. Her books are great but they stress me out because I need to know what's going to happen. So this year Salem Falls did that for me. It wasn't the most wonderful book I have ever read by her, but it was thrilling and I couldn't put it down.

10) Book You Most Anticipated in 2010? Lover Mine by JR Ward. I love the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series, it's my love. But John Matthew's story in Lover Mine was something I eagerly awaited in 2010.

11) Favourite Cover in a Book You Read in 2010? Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. It's an awesome cover.

12) Most Memorable Character in 2010? Amy from Love You Hate You Miss You By Elizabeth Scott. She went through something horrible and was resistant to any type of help in the beginning, but she finally started to come around. There was something about her that has stayed with me.

13) Most Beautifully Written Book in 2010? The Outcast by Sadie Jones. It's such a wonderful story, and it's really well written.

14) Book That Had The Greatest Impact on You in 2010? Hmmm, Dreamland by Sarah Dessen. It dealt with the pretty serious issue of teen dating abuse, and that had me thinking about how much of this actually happens and how we may not know about it.

15) Book You Can't Believe You Waited UNTIL 2010 to Read? There are none. Haha. But maybe next year.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Teaser Tuesday #3

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...

• Grab your current read
  
• Open to a random page
  
• Share a couple of “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I Shall Not Hate By Izzeldin Abuelaish

"But there were-and still are-so many unique challenges in the way of our finding the path to peaceful coexistence. For instance, a critically ill woman from Gaza was brought in for treatment; she would have died had she stayed in Gaza."

P.77

I Just Can't Wait.

I was just browsing through Goodreads (I still am not sure how it works) When I came across the cover for We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han. I started this blog after reading the first two in this series: The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You, you can see my very first post about these two book here. I loved them both but I have to say that The Summer I Turned Pretty was my favourite. But anywho... We'll Always Have Summer is due out April 26th 2010 and I am so excited. I myself am team Conrad and I want to know who Belly ends up with... So excited :)

Ok, I'm done.

Happy Reading Everyone!