Hey guys,
I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a little bit. I've been so busy!
I'll try to finish a book by the end of the weekend, okay?
You guys are awesome. :]

Love,
Jenna

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.   

Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous

by Kathryn Williams

Publication Expected: August 21st 2012

Henry Holt and Co.

Can a spot on a teen reality show really lead to a scholarship at an elite cooking school AND a summer romance?

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Nicolaides was practically raised in the kitchen of her family’s Italian-Greek restaurant, Taverna Ristorante. When her best friend, Alex, tries to convince her to audition for a new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, Sophie is reluctant. But the prize includes a full scholarship to one of America's finest culinary schools and a summer in Napa, California, not to mention fame. 

Once on-set, Sophie immediately finds herself in the thick of the drama—including a secret burn book, cutthroat celebrity judges, and a very cute French chef. Sophie must figure out a way to survive all the heat and still stay true to herself. A terrific YA offering--fresh, fun, and sprinkled with romance.

I WANT THIS. For some reason, I have an obsession with reality television. ESPECIALLY food reality television. And I just really want to read this right now SO GIVE IT TO ME.

My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend

My Life in Black and White
by Natasha Friend
Publication: June 28th 2012
Viking Juvenile

What if you lost the thing that made you who you are?

Lexi has always been stunning. Her butter-colored hair and perfect features have helped her attract friends, a boyfriend, and the attention of a modeling scout. But everything changes the night Lexi's face goes through a windshield. Now she's not sure what's worse: the scars she'll have to live with forever, or what she saw going on between her best friend and her boyfriend right before the accident. With the help of her trombone-playing, defiantly uncool older sister and a guy at school recovering from his own recent trauma, Lexi learns she's much more than just a pretty face.



Thank god for the ending or else this book probably would probably have 1 star. 

It's just hard to like a book when you hate the narrator to the point where you want to leave right in the middle of the story. I get it. I get that for most of your life you were known as the pretty one and recieved so many comments about how gorgeous your face was. It can be so upsetting to lose something that's a such a huge part of your life. I get that.

I just felt like I couldn't connect with Lexi. I sympathized for her in the first 100 pages because I just felt bad for her. Here was a girl who lost her friendship with her best friend, her boyfriend, and the thing that defined her. She deserved to be miserable and to hate life, but do you really have to drag it out for two months after the accident?

I feel like every conversation Lexi had with everyone was BOOHOO MY FACE MY LIFE IS OVER MY FACE MY PRECIOUS FACE. But at some point, you have to move on from what happened. Luckily, Lexi did move on. But it took her a long time and a lot of pushing from others.

Taylor seemed realistic, yet not. The feelings Taylor had were reasonable, but the reason behind Taylor and Lexi's feud was just...annoying. And there was Heidi, the girl that no one likes but they let her hang around. But the relationship between Lexi and Heidi towards the end of the book confused me. There was unresolved anger on Lexi's side of things.

I wanted this book to be able to teach girls that beauty isn't everything. That if something happens to you, you can move on someday and be happy with your new life. If you don't like something, find new pieces to fill in the blanks. But in my opinion, this book didn't really teach that at all. Most of the time, it just felt like Lexi was just being overdramatic and wanted everyone to join her pity party, overlooking all the other people in her life. 

The ending made me happy, but it wasn't enough to make this book spectatcular. The introduction of Theo was cute, and their relationship was cute, but all the in between-ness was messy and I didn't really get a sense of Theo. 

I feel like a lot of this book had messyness between Lexi and -insert name here-. I'm usually a fan of Ms. Friend's work, but this book just didn't work for me. 

Waiting on Wednesday (5)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.  


Butter
by Erin Jade Lange
Publication Expected: September 18th 2012
Bloomsbury


A lonely obese boy everyone calls "Butter" is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death—live on the Internet—and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn’t go through with his plans? With a deft hand, E.J. Lange allows readers to identify with both the bullies and the bullied in this all-consuming look at one teen’s battle with himself.


Look at me with my obsession with really dark books. Once again, I'm just really excited to read this because I. Love. Dark. books. And bullying is always a topic I like to read. I don't know, I'm just weird, okay?

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 


Out of Reach
by Carrie Arcos
Publication Expected: October 16th 2012
Simon Pulse


How do you find someone who doesn't want to be found? A girl searches for her missing addict brother while confronting her own secrets in this darkly lyrical novel.Rachel has always idolized her older brother Micah. He struggles with addiction, but she tells herself that he's in control. And she almost believes it. Until the night that Micah doesn't come home.

Rachel's terrified--and she can't help but feel responsible. She should have listened when Micah tried to confide in her. And she only feels more guilt when she receives an anonymous note telling her that Micah is nearby and in danger.

With nothing more to go on than hope and a slim lead, Rachel and Micah's best friend, Tyler, begin the search. Along the way, Rachel will be forced to confront her own dark secrets, her growing attraction to Tyler...and the possibility that Micah may never come home.


Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I want this. I can just tell this is going to be an emotionally traumatizing book and then the cover is so simple that it's pretty and I WANT IT.

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 


Speechless
by Hannah Harrington 
Publication Expected: August 28th 2012
HarlequinTeen

The story of a girl named Chelsea Knot who takes a voluntary oath of silence after her gossip-mongering ways yield unexpected consequences…

Saying she’s sorry isn’t enough.


OH MY GODDDD, do I want this book. I want this book. I want it, I want it, I want it, I WANT IT. I've been a fan of Hannah Harrington's since the release of Saving June, and the cover, and the idea and just gah oh my god I want it so bad.

Crazy by Amy Reed

Connor knows that Izzy will never fall in love with him the way he’s fallen for her. But somehow he’s been let into her crazy, exhilarating world and become her closest confidante. But the closer they get, the more Connor realizes that Izzy’s highs are too high and her lows are too low. And the frenetic energy that makes her shine is starting to push her into a much darker place.

As Izzy’s behavior gets increasingly erratic and self-destructive, Connor gets increasingly desperate to stop her from plummeting. He knows he can’t save her from her pain... but what if no one else can? (Published by Simon Pulse, June 12th 2012)


I have been a fan of Amy Reed's work for a long long time. Ever since I bought Beautiful, I have been in love with her writing. The voice the narrator has is always so lifelike, it's like you're reading someone's journal or you can actually picture the person talking to you. And the subject matter is always something I'm very interested in reading.


Crazy did not make me cry. But it did make me emotional. Here we have a boy who is so infatuated, so in love with this wonderful image of a girl he met, but over the course of six months, he watches as she falls apart. He cares so much for her that he tries so hard to help her, but he just doesn't know how. The emotions from Connor, you could tell he literally cared for this girl more than he cared about himself.


And the format of how Reed wrote this, with emails going back and forth was great. You could definitely tell how both Izzy and Connor's inner thoughts worked because they just POURED their emotions into these emails. It definitely gave a clear idea as to what was going on in Izzy's head.


Besides the fact that this book gave a good idea as to how someone with mental illness thinks, it also made me think of myself as a person. Often times in the beginning, I got annoyed with how Izzy said things and how she would insult Connor and take them back, or I got annoyed at how Connor kept talking to her despite all of Izzy's shit (but he did doubt a few times, and I cheered for him, and then felt bad). This book made me realize that I probably wouldn't have the ability to deal with someone with a mental illness unless I was like Connor, to the point where I would stay because I loved them too much to let go.


This book was just really good, and made me think so much as I kept reading. I definitely recommend it to someone who has an interest in this type of topic.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is meme that is hosted by the lovely Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews


Stacking the shelves, stacking the shelves, staaaacking the shelves! -hums a tune-

Hi guys! Sorry I kinda disappeared-ish. I've been busy with work and sleeping and just LIFE. Anyways. So this week, my mom took me to Barnes and Noble and bought me books to celebrate my new job, so I got a  major haul. These are the books I got:

My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend
This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond
Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mylnowski
Beauty by Lisa Daily
Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

and I got a new copy of In Honor because my original copy was missing pages. So I finally finished it, and review should be up by tonight.

I'M SO EXCITED GUYS

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 


Small Damages
by Beth Kephart
Publication Expected: July 19th 2012
Philomel


It’s senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she is mourning the loss of her father. She finds solace in the one person she trusts, her boyfriend, and she soon finds herself pregnant. Kenzie’s boyfriend and mother do not understand her determination to keep the baby. She is sent to southern Spain for the summer, where she will live out her pregnancy as a cook’s assistant on a bull ranch, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple. 

Alone and resentful in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first sullen and difficult. She begins to open her eyes and her heart to the beauty that is all around her and inside of her.


This looks SO good to me. Just the premise of a girl getting pregnant and then sent off to Spain to have the baby and give it up seems like a great book. I love when characters go through internal change, and I really hope Ms. Kephart does it good. Can't wait! 

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogger event hosted over at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

Perfect Escape 
by Jennifer Brown
Publication Expected: July 10th, 2012
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.

Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.

I loved her book Hate List, and I'm a sucker for any book that includes coming to terms with something in the narrator's life. Plus, I don't really know THAT much about OCD, so I feel like this could give a better insight. It just seems like a very interesting book to me. 

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love. (Published by Simon & Schuester, May 8th 2012)

I am not afraid to admit that I cry a lot. It's a habit that I haven't been able to shake from when I was the baby of the family and I never got my way. Now, it's mostly at movies and at books that just stab you in the heart and twist. I cry, but it will only be tears streaming down my face and a little sniffle. I can count on one hand how many times a book has made me absolutely BAWL.


Second Chance Summer is one of those books. 


Second Chance Summer is a book where the ending is inevitable; you know it's coming and you know it will make you emotional. But good Lord, this book traumatized me. I needed to go grab the box of tissues in my bathroom because I couldn't even breathe right, my nose was all stuffed up and my eyes were hurting from my mascara and just GAH.


But this book does not just rely on the ending. It's the details that make this book great. Her family: her teddy bear father, her ballerina mother, her two exceptional siblings, they all shine and are three dimensional rather than being cardboard cutouts. Henry and Lucy and the drama that happened five years before are believable and allow Taylor to have a flaw that a lot of people can relate to. 


The slow rebuilding of Taylor and Lucy's friendship, and the romance between Taylor and Henry are all big parts of the book and Taylor as a character herself, but both plots take a back seat to the main plot of the book: family. The Edwards family starts off as distant from another, but as the book progresses, they slowly become a unit, working together. At the end, they are all able to support each other in a major time of need for support.

I try not to give five star reviews out readily, but this book deserves it. It's about romance, friendship, and the most important thing YA books should preach: family. I definitely recommend it to everyone, even if you're all like WAH I ONLY READ FANTASY. You must read this book. 5 stars.

Reunited by Hilary Weisman Graham

Alice, Summer, and Tiernan are ex-best friends.

Back in middle school, the three girls were inseparable. They were also the number one fans of the rock band Level3.

But when the band broke up, so did their friendship. Summer ran with the popular crowd, Tiernan was a rebellious wild-child, and Alice spent high school with her nose buried in books.

Now, just as the girls are about to graduate, Level3 announces a one-time-only reunion show.

Even though the concert’s 2000 miles away, Alice buys three tickets on impulse. And as it turns out, Summer and Tiernan have their own reasons for wanting to get out of town. Good thing Alice’s graduation gift (a pea-green 1976 VW camper van known as the Pea Pod) is just the vehicle to get them there.

But on the long drive cross-country, the girls hit more than a few bumps in the road. Will their friendship get an encore or is the show really over? (Published by Simon & Schuester,  June 12 2012)

What better way to start off the summer with a book about a road trip? Road trip books are always a favorite, because there's just something about the open road ahead of you, not knowing where you're going. Your relationship with the other travelers can change so much during the time on the road. 

But Alice, Summer, and Tiernan already decided where they're going: Austin to see Level3, the band of boys that they believe they will someday marry. Or who they used to believe. Four years have passed since the forsaken fight between the three, splitting up their friendship. Alice has her heart set on Brown despite her position on the waiting list, Tiernan wants freedom from her overbearing mother, and Summer? Summer doesn't know what she wants.

This book is exactly how it sounds...awkward. A lot of the parts were lost in translation for me, and the flip flopping of "we're best friends again" and "why am I here, why did I agree to this" was heavy, making it a little weary from time to time.

Some parts were funny (the dead squirrel scene, oh my god) or cute (Quintin), but most of it was awkward. I didn't really get a good attachment to any of the characters, because to be frank, some of the time they annoyed me. Summer was too wishy-washy, Alice was too much of a control freak, and Tiernan could be downright bitchy.

The author often yanked the dream of seeing Level3 from right under them a lot, from losing their tickets to even missing the show. But in the end, the girls were able to put aside their differences, hash out what had split them up in the beginning, and become friends in the end.

I did like the book, don't get me wrong. But it wasn't amazing. It was predictable and almost...forgettable. I liked it, but I didn't love it. 3 stars.

Oh hey

This is a blog.
That's weird.
Let's see how this goes.

Jenna