Waiting on Wednesday ~ Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by 
Jill at Breaking the Spine 
that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

I love the idea of this book.  I have always been a fan of pop culture and I have been and still am a big fan of a lot of stars like Heath Ledger that were taken from this world far too young.  I am intrigued to see who all the letters are written to in this story.  It sounds like a beautiful journey of finding ones self through writing letters and I can't wait to read it.  

What book are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave me your links below so I can visit you today and see what you can't wait to read. 

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Book To Movie Adaptaions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by 

The Broke and the Bookish. 

For this weeks topic we were asked to pick one we had never done before from previous weeks so today we present to you our top ten:

Best Book To Movie Adaptations

10 - This movie ended up being hit or miss with people.  I actually quite enjoyed it.  I thought the casting was excellent (I LOVED Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace) and although they could have made it better, I wasn't terribly disappointed with it and hope for a bit of improvement if they end up making City of Ashes.

9 - I felt like this movie was a pretty good adaptation especially considering there are 619 pages in the book.  I thought Melanie/Wanda was probably the hardest thing for them to portray but they did really well with it as well.

8 - This is one movie that I actually liked better than the book.  I loved Shane West and Mandy Moore together.  They were fantastic and this movie makes me sob every time I watch it where the book didn't do that for me at all.  

7 - When I saw Safe Haven in the theater it had been many years since I had read the book.  I didn't remember about the twist that was in the story so it was extra rewarding for me.  I loved Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel but really, who doesn't?

6 - This is my favorite of the Narnia books.  I absolutely LOVED the movie.  I thought the casting of Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian was perfection and they did wonderful bringing this book to life.

5 - This was not my favorite of the Twilight movies, but I felt like they did a great job with making them and again, turning a huge book into something that was worth watching even if it did take 2 movies.  I loved the change they made to make the movie into something the book couldn't show.  

4 - This is my favorite of the Harry Potter movies.  I loved how true to the book it was and although they did a good job with most of the movies and trying to keep them true to the books this is my favorite.

3 - This movie was done so well it blew me away!  I felt like the casting was flawless and still when I watch it the 2 hours blows by without you even noticing.  That is a sign of a good movie!

2 - This IS my favorite of the Twilight movies.  They wolves were so cool and the part in Italy was amazing.  This movie actually made me like the book more.  

1 - For me, this is hands down the best movie adaptation of all time.  I could not believe how flawlessly they brought this book to life.  I cried several times while watching and I can't say enough good about this amazing book to movie adaptation.

I am so curious to see what topics everyone else picked for this week so be sure to leave your links below so I can visit and see what you decided to choose as your Top Ten Tuesday!

Cover Reveal ~ Contradictions by Tiffany King

Today we are pleased to help with the cover reveal for one of my favorite authors Tiffany King.  Her writing is fantastic and I would recommend her books to everyone!

USA Today Bestselling Author of Misunderstandings

Tiffany King

Contradictions

A Novel

Coming December 2014

From The Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Group (USA) LLC 

When everything starts spinning out of control…

Three years into college, Tressa Oliver’s life is a nonstop party. She’s skating by in her classes, and there’s no shortage of drinking, dancing and general hell-raising. The only aspect that hasn’t been much fun: she can’t shake the toxic jerks that always seem to gravitate toward her. 

It will take someone totally wrong…

Trent Lawson is the classic anti-bad boy: smart, boring, and way too serious. To a wild girl like Tressa, there’s no way in hell they’re compatible—especially since Trent seems to see straight through her defenses. 

To set her right.

When a college prank goes terribly wrong, Tressa starts to suspect that her partying ways are leading nowhere fast. Now, she has to turn to the last person she ever thought she’d ask for help—and quickly discovers that there’s more to Trent than meets the eye… 

Praise for the novels of Tiffany King

“A MUST-READ for New Adult contemporary romance fans.”

—New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young

“Sweet and sexy! Great characters and an intriguing romance…So good!”

—New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack

About Author Tiffany King

USA Today Bestselling author Tiffany King is a lifelong reading fanatic who is now living her dream as a writer, weaving Young Adult and New Adult romance tales for others to enjoy. She has a loving husband and two wonderful kids. (Five, if you count her three spoiled cats). Her addictions include: Her iphone and ipad, chocolate, Diet Coke, chocolate, Harry Potter, chocolate, zombies and her favorite TV shows. Want to know what they are? Just ask. 

Where to connect with Tiffany

Web page      Twitter       Facebook

    

Thanks to Tiffany King for letting us host her cover reveal today!  

The cover is gorgeous!

Waiting on Wednesday ~ Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by 
Jill at Breaking the Spine 
that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you? 

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most? 

I think this book has the potential to be very good.  Living with teenagers, I sometimes wonder how they would handle a situation like this and it will be very interesting to read Julie Murphy's take on the topic.




That's what I'm waiting on this Wednesday.  Leave me your thoughts and links and I will comment and visit you back!

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Blogger/Reader

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by 

The Broke and the Bookish. 

This weeks topic:

Reasons I Love Being a Blogger/Reader

in no particular order:

Helpling Indie Authors

When I first got my kindle almost 2 years ago was when I really started discovering the world of Independent Publishing.  I started reading a lot of books that were not traditionally published and found some of them to be amazing! Through social media I was able to connect and have become friends with a few.  After a while I started thinking I really wanted to start a blog to help some of them out with promotion. I have really enjoyed it and I love the feeling of helping others. 

Working as a team with Banana 

One of the things that makes our blog unique is that I share it with my son. On occasion, my daughters will help with book and movie reviews as well.  I didn't get the blog going until my son (Banana) showed interest in helping me.  I had no idea where to start and he was a huge help in getting everything going and he does a great job on everything he works on for the blog.  I'm blessed to have him as my partner.

Sharing books I love and my views on them

I really like reviewing books.  I love telling people about the things I love about them and also about some of the things I don't.  If I can help people make decisions about what is right for them then it is a win for everyone because I enjoy doing it so much!

Challenging my self with new posts

I enjoy trying to change things up every once in a while on the blog as well as the challenge of new posts and especially Top Ten Tuesday!  Sometimes these can be really hard to come up with and it is fun to always give it a try.  Sometimes I even enlist family members to help me out so we can make all 10!

Reading gives me an escape

I love how reading gives me an escape from real life.  I love thinking of going different places and getting lost in a story or a world that doesn't even exist.  I love feeling connected to characters that do things I would never do because I can live vicariously through them.

Being able to read early copies of books

One huge perk of being a blogger is that you can sometimes get advance copies of books for review.  I won't lie, this is one of my favorite things especially when it is an author I love.  It isn't the reason I blog, but it is a nice bonus.

Feeling of Accomplishment

I love having a sense of accomplishment about the things that I do.  I like to think I am doing positive things with my life, and I like how it feels when I get posts completed especially if it one I have spent a lot of time on.  I have learned how to actually set up and make a blog from scratch!  That is knowledge I didn't have months ago so that in itself is a huge accomplishment for me.

Blogging Friendships

I have made so many friends while blogging.  You would almost think that the blogging community would be competitive, but I have found it to be friendly, accepting and helpful.    I am grateful for these relationships and know they are real friendships that I will have for life now.  I have a "blogging sister", Amber at Paradise of Pages and I love her so much!  She has helped me so many times and I am so grateful for her.  Make sure you check her page out as she is amazing!

Author Friendships

I have met authors that I love and are willing to help me in my blogging endeavor . This blog would not even exist, most likely, without the urging of author Tiffany King.  She gave me the final push to get things going and I'm so grateful.  I have become very close with Nikki Godwin and I love to recommend her books.  She is an amazing writer and an even more amazing person. It still stuns me that through social media you can actually talk to amazing authors who's books you love and I freaking fangirl when someone like Rachel Harris, Katie McGarry or Leigh Ann Kopans tweet me not only about their books, but just about life in general.  Authors can be very giving with their time, talents and also resources when you ask and I am so grateful and blessed to have relationships with so many.  

Future

It's fun for me to think about the future of the blog and what things we may be able to do.  I know Banana is only going to be around for a couple more years before he graduates and I look forward to including my girls more and more as they get older if they want to help.  My 8yo has Coconut's Corner for reviewing children's books she enjoys and wants to share with others.  I look forward to what the future holds and hope you enjoy going there with me as a reader.

Now it's your turn.  Tell me the thing you like about being a blogger or a reader and maybe even the things you like about our blog or you would like to see us do in the future.

Waiting On Wednesday ~ Summer On The Short Bus by Bethany Crandell

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

Cricket Montgomery has been thrown under the short bus. Shipped off to a summer camp by her father, Cricket is forced to play babysitter to a bunch of whiny kids—or so she thinks. When she realizes this camp is actually for teens with special needs, Cricket doubts she has what it takes to endure twenty-four hours, let alone two weeks.

Thanks to her dangerously cute co-counselor, Quinn, there may be a slim chance for survival. However, between the campers’ unpredictability and disregard for personal space, Cricket’s limits get pushed. She will have to decide if suffering through her own handicapped hell is worth a summer romance—and losing her sanity.

Release Date for Summer On The Short Bus ~ April 1, 2014

Since doing my Top Ten Tuesday post of books I'm looking forward to by debut authors, I can't seem to get this book out of my head!  I think it looks totally adorable. I am so totally excited for it and can't wait to read it!  

Let me know what books you are excited about and waiting on this week!

The Star Thief ~ Blog Tour

We are excited today to be hosting the blog tour for

The Star Thief

by Jamie Grey

She might only be twenty-three, but Renna Carrizal is the most notorious thief in the galaxy. There’s just one problem – all she wants is to get the frak out of the business. 

But when Renna rescues an injured boy from the warehouse she’s casing, she finds herself on the run from the mob instead of enjoying retirement on a garden world. Turns out, the kid was a plant to lead her to MYTH, a top-secret galactic protection agency. 

MYTH needs Renna’s special skills, and they make her an offer she can’t refuse – unless she'd like to spend the rest of her life on a prison ship. To make sure she does her job they shackle her with a MYTH watchdog, the handsome but arrogant Captain Finn. 

A former mercenary-turned-galactic-hero, Finn happens to have his own dirty secrets. Secrets that Renna wouldn’t mind uncovering for herself. Together, they discover an experiment to develop illegal cybernetics that will create an unstoppable army. The intended target? The human star fleet. 

Now Renna must use her skills as the Star Thief to pull off the biggest job of her career – saving the galaxy. And herself.

(Recommended for 18+ due to mature themes and sexual content)

Add The Star Thief to Goodreads

My Review

The Star Thief was a wonderfully crafted Sci-Fi book set in a world that actually takes you to many different places, all of which you could easily imagine yourself in due to Jamie's beautiful writing style.  She pays attention to details to make you feel like you are right there in the action with the characters in a unique style that blends with the story while you read.  I sometimes have a hard time with Sci-Fi books because I don't see details in my head easily and character details (how other species may look) don't get enough attention. This was never the case while reading The Star Thief.

I loved the character Renna.  She is feisty and she knows how to do her job well.  It was interesting to see her use her skill set as a thief to get out of different situations that weren't all about, well, being a thief.  She isn't trustworthy to anyone around her which makes it interesting to see which side she was actually going to play as she ultimately had her own best interest in the forefront.  She wants to retire but ends up entangled in this one last job that is a bit more than she bargained for. I liked how Renna's past was told without doing a lot of flashback scenes. Those are generally a big turn off for me so I was well pleased once again in how Jamie's writing style agrees with what I like to read.  

I also enjoyed watching Renna's relationship with Finn unfold. They end up working well together even though the trust level between them isn't always 100%.  Everyone seems to have a lot of secrets from their past that can easily come back to haunt them and Finn is no exception.  There were also several minor characters that were well represented and interesting without overwhelming with too many people to keep track of.

The story itself was intriguing and kept my interest throughout. I am excited to see where the story goes in the next book in the series.  

Here is an excerpt from The Star Thief:

Renna stepped forward, tugging at her shirt. Why hadn’t she done something better with her hair this morning? “By the gods. Someone up there sure has a sense of humor,” she drawled, leaning against the cell door.

The alien’s expression froze, shock flashing across the harsh planes of his face before he masked it. “Renna Carrizal. I thought you were on some outer rim world living in luxury.”

She smiled sweetly. “Or dead?”

He shrugged apologetically. “You know I didn't have a choice, my dear. The job paid well, and you were getting a bit too close to my territory for comfort.”

She felt Captain Finn’s disapproval like a hand pressing against her back. She ignored it and let her gaze travel across Viktis’s broad shoulders. “And here I thought saving your life all those years ago had been a good deed. Ah well, all good deeds are punished in this business, aren't they?” She let her eyes drift down to his lips, then she licked her own. Slowly.

Viktis chuckled. “Nice to see you haven't changed, my dear.”

“Nice to see you have.” Her gaze lowered deliberately down his lean body, the leather jacket and tight breeches he wore showing off his lithe frame. The Ileth aliens were a handsome race, and Viktis had definitely aged well. The last time they'd been together, he'd been a rough school boy, awkward and embarrassed. Things had definitely changed.

“You still running that old bucket of junk?” she asked.

“The Monet was a beauty. But no, I have a new cruiser. Won her in a card game.”

She laughed and tossed her hair. “That’s so cliché.”

Viktis grinned. “For a reason. It seems to happen more frequently than you'd expect.”  He turned to the mercenary guarding the door. “Get her out of there.”

The man obeyed. A moment later Viktis grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight hug. “Damn, it's good to see you again, Renna.”

She hugged him back, making sure to rub her hands along his torso. Not only was he impressively muscled, she discovered he had two guns strapped to his waist and a knife slipped into a side pocket. He'd come well-armed. She expected no less.

Get your copy of 

The Star Thief 

Barnes and Noble

Amazon 

Smashwords

Flamingo gives
 The Star Thief

8 Pink Flamingos

I thoroughly enjoyed The Star Thief and if Sci-Fi is your thing  (and even if it's not) I would highly recommend this book. 

About Author Jamie Grey

Jamie Grey spent most of her childhood writing stories about princesses who saved the day and pretending to be a daring explorer. It wasn’t until much later that she realized she should combine the two.  Now, as a tech-obsessed gamer geek, her novels mix amazing scientific developments, future worlds, and the remarkable characters that live in them.

Jamie lives in Michigan with her significant other and their pets, who luckily tolerate her overspending on tea, books, and video games.

Facebook     Twitter     Blog     Goodreads

Jamie is also running a fantastic giveaway with the tour.  
Make sure you enter the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books That Will Make You Swoon

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by 

The Broke and the Bookish. 

This weeks topic:

Books That Will Make You Swoon

I loved putting together the top ten this week!  Some of these are done by series as well as stand alone books.  

Top Ten Books/Series that will make you swoon!

10 - The Lux Series
By Jennifer Armentrout


I love this series for many reasons, but since we are talking swoon, if ailiens are going to take over earth, as long as they look and act like Daemon Black I think I'm fine with it. 

9 - 7 Day Fiance
by Rachel Harris

I have the book cover here, but I thought I would show you the REAL image I have of Cane who made me continually swoon while reading this book.

8 - The Revenants Series 
by Amy Plum

I love Vincent and Kate to the ends of the earth, but if you don't adore Jules in this series as well, I would be surprised.

7 - Infernal Devices
by Cassandra Clare

Will and Jem. I really have no favorite.  As best friends they make the love triangle in this series unique and I have a place in my heart for them both.

6 - Out of Line Series
by Jen McLaughlin

Marine. Surfer. Protector.  What's not to love about Finn in this fantastic series?

5 - Bloodlines series
by Richelle Mead

Since being introduced to Adrian in the Vampire Academy series (see #3) I have always had a place in my heart for him.  His snarky attitude definitely makes him even more attractive.

4 - Pushing the Limits
by Katie McGarry

This is a series I took a chance on while in a huge reading slump in December.  I haven't read a series this fast in a very long time and all of these books are very swoon worthy.

3 - Vampire Academy Series
by Richelle Mead

Hot Russian instructor?  Yes please!  Dimitri will make you swoon to the moon and back in this series favorite of mine.

2 - The Twilight series
By Stephenie Meyer

Go ahead, and roll those eyes.  I owe a lot to this series.  I wouldn't be a book blogger without it because it got me to finally read.  I don't remember ever having a character stick with me for days after like Edward did.  I wondered if I would ever stop thinking about him at times.  Admit it, it isn't hard to remember how you swooned for him once upon a time as well.

1 - Tiger's Curse Series
by Colleen Houck

This may very well be my favorite book series of all time.  If you don't mind a couple of handsome princes hanging around, Ren and Kishan take the swoon factor to new heights in this fantastic series.  





Those are my picks for the week now let me in on which books make you swoon!