This September means new releases! I love looking at new books throughout the year and I wanted to start a monthly feature here where I talk about the ones that I’m most excited for. This won’t be an extensive list of all September releases, just the ones on my TBR.
September 1
September 8
September 10
September 15
September 22
September 29
Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, is a way for book bloggers to share some recent books that we have acquired! I participate in this series every so often and this week, I was fortunate enough to receive some ARCs from some publishers that I wanted to share with you.
Received from the Publisher
The Secret Fire by CJ Daughtery and Carina Rozenfeld
White Collar Girl by Renee Rosen
The Gates of Rutherford by Elizabeth Cooke
Bought
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Michelle Rowan
Looking for Alaska by John Green
What books did you pick up this week?
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Published Dutton Books 2006
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Format: Paperback
Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.
On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun–but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.
4 John Green books down. 2 to go.
So far, this isn’t my favorite. That award still goes to Paper Towns. But, this is my second favorite (beating out Will Grayson and The Fault in Our Stars).
This book is very interesting because not very much actually happens. It takes place over only a couple of weeks, and what initially seems like a road trip plot stays in the same small Tennessee town. There isn’t really much plot wise either. But somehow, through it all, everything that should work against this book works for it.
I loved Colin. He’s a smart kid but he struggles with that and as someone who grew up in the gifted/talented program, I felt his struggle to be something more than his intelligence. The friends I had that treated me like Hassan, not as a student but a person, were my favorite people. Colin is socially awkward, but has managed to get nineteen girlfriends in some way or the other. Some don’t really count as girlfriends, but friendships that slightly developed into more.
My favorite thing about this book is the relationship between Hassan and Colin. Friendships in Green’s books are always great! Hassan and Colin have inside jokes, something I’ve been waiting for in a friendship. They have a relationship that pulls at each other and encourages them to be better. I loved the way this was written and it was pretty much exactly what I’ve been looking for.
The romance is a pretty big point here too, although not the most important. It is a little cliche in the way it all happens, but that makes it fun. Plus, Hassan is a great character to have in dramatic situations. This is a really fun book, and I enjoyed it, but I missed a spark that I needed to take this from a good book to a great book.
Overall, I liked this book. It gets a lot of things very right and I think I’ll definitely be finishing out Green’s books. Who knows, maybe I’ll even try TFiOS again.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
To be published Delacorte September 1 2015
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Format: I received an e-ARC copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. This does not affect the content of this review or my opinions in any way.
This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
I think this book suffers from the very thing that ruined The Fault in Our Stars for me. And, of course, I also mean that EVERYONE loves this book, but I was not too happy with the way this turned out. I didn’t like the characters, so I didn’t like the romance.
First of all, I was spoiled before reading this book. It was probably an accident, but it happened. I knew about the big twist at the ending (don’t worry – I’m not going to spoil it for y’all too!) and I was actually waiting for it the whole time. Plus, there were so many people that had hyped this book up for me and it didn’t live up to any of my expectations.
The main problem I had with this book was the romance. I didn’t like Madeline or Olly. And there was some major insta-love problems. I felt like their relationship didn’t really make sense. They talked for a while over IM (which also – who does that anymore?) and then, Madeline RISKS HER LIFE to see him. I didn’t feel anything for them. Both characters were developed with their likes and interests and I could totally understand their friendship. But why did they have to be in love? And so quickly? I felt like Madeline dealt with her emotions toward Olly in a very strange way, especially considering that she had never had any human interactions – friendship or more. Her whole life changes when she sees him jumping around outside. I’m sure she’s had neighbors before though…
Also, I didn’t understand Madeline’s sickness or the world she lived in. Why was everything white? She wasn’t allergic to color so… And why was the door such a problem? There is one time that she easily goes outside and then another time, she has to break this lock and do the code and all that. I really wanted to learn more about the disease she has and to have a realistic depiction of how this was handled.
This is a very short book, so I wish this was longer. I read the whole thing in just a couple of hours, and it was a nice read. I didn’t feel too bored while reading it and it was entertaining. The ending, not even the twist, felt totally out of place. I wish the book had taken a different turn about halfway through. It really could have packed more of a punch.
Overall, this is a hard book for me to review. I know so many people loved it, so I would suggest it to you. I had some major problems with the romance and not feeling the characters were dimensional off-the-page, especially when making decisions. I’m still pretty iffy about it, to be honest.
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine, focusing on unreleased books we are excited for! This week I picked:
Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira
To be published January 19 2016
In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?
I’m pretty sure that this is my dream book. I pretty much needed this yesterday. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Broke and Bookish. This week’s theme is to create a syllabus if I taught any particular class! I decided to go with Cover Design 101. So, not too much reading happening, other than reading the book to see why the cover was designed in that way. But I love looking at beautiful covers! I would totally take this class too.
Moment of appreciation for these GORGEOUS covers.
What class would you want to teach? What would you add to this list? Give me some more suggestions for beautiful covers because I love them so much!
Kisses and Curses: Fifteen Authors, Fourteen Stories, One Fierce Collection edited by Lauren Burniac
Published Square Fish 2015
Genre: Young Adult Short Stories
Format: Paperback
A fabulous collection of short stories from your favorite Fierce Reads authors, perfect for fans and new readers!
Beloved of readers and booksellers, our Fierce Reads program has garnered tons of enthusiastic fans since its inauguration in 2012. Now, the authors you know and love are coming together in one book! With standalone short stories from a handpicked set of FR authors, this fabulous collection will include a mix of original content and popular favorites, and will often feature characters or worlds from existing Fierce Reads books. Extended, personal introductions from each author will make this a must-buy for fans as well as a fantastic portal for engaging new readers with the program. With a wide range of genres and subject matter, there will be something here for everyone!
I am super split on this entire collection. So first of all, I’ll just review each of these short stories individually:
| Individual Reviews:
‘Glitches’ by Marissa Meyer – 5 stars – I really like the Lunar Chronicles series and I liked this prequel. It made me love the series and Cinder even more than normal. It was the perfect length and the writing was great. |
The main reason I was disappointed overall with this was the lack of original content. Most of it was already published in some way or a deleted scene. Also, it was all from their series (only two original ones). I hadn’t read most of them. There were two or three new authors I will check out because of this, and some series I love more because of their features, but some that I’ll probably never read now. I wish that they had written something new in a different world so I could have more fun with it. I always felt like I was missing something.
Overall, I would suggest reading this if you’ve read the majority of these series or authors. Maybe just keep a copy around for when you do? Anyway, it was a quick read, but I was wanting more.
