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.