Contest Closed

My book giveaway has officially ended. A winner will be announced later this afternoon and will have 48 hours from the timestamp on the email to respond with a mailing address.

Check back later to see if you've won!

Flashback Friday (1)

Flashback Friday was started by Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf and is a chance to share with others books that you loved as a kid or teenager.

Now when I was a kid, reading was my favorite pastime and I always had a book in my backpack. My biggest book collection from my younger days consisted of the Sweet Valley series. It didn't matter how old the twins were, if I found a book dealing with them, I bought it.

One thing my mom and I did frequently was visit thrift stores and I loved this outing because I could always find at least two Sweet Valley High books at each store. I still have my collection at my mom's house and it takes up a solid box and a half..and let me tell you, they are not small boxes.

I loved so many things about this series and when it was made into a tv show, you can bet your buttons I watched it. Now that there's talk of a movie and more books following Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, chances are I'll watch or read them just to pay homage to what these books meant to me growing up, because if there are any books that define my childhood and pre-teen years..these are it.

Waiting on Wednesday - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

So I know last week I featured the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy as my Waiting on Wednesday book. However, thanks to Heather at See Heather Write, I have been informed of the title and cover release for this book and I'm just so freakin' excited, so without further ado, I bring you the cover of the third installment in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay.


Isn't it beautiful? Like Jessica mentioned, the book covers side-by-side look amazing together with the Mockingjay transforming from a pin to a real bird. August really cannot come quick enough.

Interested in reading what David Levithan had to say about Mockingjay and see the covers side-by-side? Click here.

How to be Popular - Meg Cabot

I have officially read my first Meg Cabot book. I picked up How to be Popular earlier this week because 1) it was a stand-alone book and 2) I wanted something of an easy read.

How to be Popular follows sixteen year old Steph Laundry as she tries to shed a phrase that has haunted her for five years. As she helps her best friend, Jason, clean out his grandmother's attic, she comes across a book on how to be popular and decides to give it a go.

As long as she follows the instructions in the book, she's guaranteed to make it into the A-club.

While I enjoyed this book and appreciated Steph, Jason, and Becca, How to be Popular was kind of predictable, I saw the ending coming from a mile away. Girl strives to be popular, girl gets in with the coveted "in" crowd, girl realizes things were better before.

One thing I really liked about Steph was that she was nice, even when it was hard. Her brief stint never changed how she acted towards others and the very end (literally, last page) had me thinking how nice she really was. If I were in her position and someone treated me like that, there's no way I'd even try to be nice. This was definitely a cute book and I look forward to reading more by Meg Cabot.

In My Mailbox (2)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and all you have to do is post about what books you received that week by mail, library, or store.

I'm kind of late on this post but with the move and packing things have been kind of hectic lately so I probably won't be blogging much the next week or two.

Yesterday I received Cut by Patricia McCormick, a book I won from Angel over at The Simple Things. Lucky me, the original contest winner never responded to her so her loss was my gain.

The only other book I got in the last few days was Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I made an impromptu trip to Books-A-Million because I had been thinking about getting this book ever since I bought it for the person I drew on the book exchange I participated in a few weeks ago.

I'm looking forward to reading both of these books but it's going to be a while before I get around to them.

In the meantime, look for a review of Meg Cabot's How to be Popular by the end of the week.

Waiting on Wednesday - Suzanne Collins

I debated about making the third and final book of The Hunger Games trilogy my Waiting on Wednesday book this week. The title, The Victors, is tentative and I have no shiny cover graphic to go along with this post, however, if there is one book I'm looking forward to in 2010, this is it.

If you've read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (and aren't of the few who didn't like it) then you'll know why I'm excited for this book to come out. Not only are the first two books captivating but The Hunger Games was the book that got my husband interested in audio books.

My husband hates reading and every time he picks up a book he starts to yawn uncontrollably, which then causes him never to read. When I finished chapter two of The Hunger Games I was telling him about the story so far and he said, "That actually sounds like something I might like," so I made it my mission to download it from audible.com and put it on his iPod so he could listen to it during his long work commute. This was in September and since then he has listened to seven audio books and is working on number 8.

Although I don't want the story to end, I can't wait to see where Collins takes Katniss, Peeta, and crew. August cannot come fast enough.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Cori, a girl from my online book club, decided to send the ARC she won from Goodreads.com of Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon on tour. Ten people get a week each to read the book before sending it to the next person on the list and I was stop number one. I was pretty stoked to get a chance to participate in this tour because this was my first ARC, as well as the first book by Sarah Addison Allen that I've had the pleasure of reading.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wanted to go into this book blind so I avoided any synopsis and refused to even look at the back of the book. The book follows two girls, Emily Benedict who has come to Mullaby for the first time and Julia Winterson, a woman who has returned to the place she grew up but can't wait to get out of.

After her mom passes away, teenager Emily Benedict moves to Mullaby, North Carolina to live with the grandfather she never knew existed. Being the new girl is never easy, but it seems to be slightly worse for Emily because everyone seems to choose their words very carefully upon meeting her. She gradually finds out more and more about her mom's past, of which she never spoke of to Emily. She soon meets Julia, her next door neighbor who sees a bit of herself in Emily, and a charming and captivating boy named Win Coffey. Soon after arriving in Mullaby, Emily is plunged into a world of strange and wonderous things that seem to surround the Coffey family.

Julia Winterson is woman who returned to town after her dad passed away and is counting down the months until her time in Mullaby is over, so she can once again leave. She's got a troubled past and part of that past is in the form of Sawyer Alexander, who just can't seem to stay away from her.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the picture that Allen painted of the town just seemed so vivid to me and I liked the alternating POV. I became eager to finish reading because I wanted to see where the story went and when I finished, I wanted more.

The downside to this book was that it could have been a little longer, at least another hundred pages or so. The characters were likable but I would have liked to get to know them more and, especially with Julia's story, I would have liked to see that expanded into. I felt kind of let down at the end of her story and I hope there will be a second book to placate me, and other readers who feel the same as me. It was like things were explained a bit too much at the beginning and towards the end it felt like there was a rush to finish the story. There's something special about Win and Emily's story is pretty much oriented around that but when it gets to where he's basically saying "this is me," there's not really an explanation as to how or why.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon is an OK book and although it's a bit predictable at times, it's a light read and I recommend reading it at least once.

In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and all you have to do is post about what books you received that week by mail, library, or store.

Thanks to a book exchange with some ladies on my online book club, I received four books in the mail earlier this past week. Thanks again Becca, I love them all!

The books I received were:










Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters
Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse all by Rick Riordan
Sixteeen edited by Megan McCafferty
Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon

I also decided to participate in an ARC tour for Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon. That came Friday and I have a week to read it so look for my review on that in the next two days or so. The weekend didn't allow any time for reading so I only started it last night but I'll most likely finish it sometime tonight.

Did you get anything this past week?