Teaser Tuesady

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: •Grab your current read •Open to a random page •Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) •Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser for the week:

You would never be expected to take a road trip with someone you didn’t know, yet how many times has she flown to Chicago or Denver or Florida beside a complete stranger, elbow to elbow, side by side, as the two of them hurtled across the country together? That’s the thing about flying: You could talk to someone for hours and never even know his name, share your deepest secrets and then never see him again.


The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith
Release Date: January 2, 2012

Musing Monday: YA Books

MUSING MONDAYS… is a weekly event where MizB at Should be Reading will ask a book/reading-related question, and you answer with your own thoughts on the topic.

This week’s musing asks…

Why do you think that the Young Adult genre is so popular with even the adult readers? Do you read YA books, yourself?

I'm an adult and I'm an avid young adult genre reader.  I know for me personally I love the innocence of it all, the first time for a kiss, the first time for a date, a dance, anything really.  It's just that innocence that I love.  Plus they keep it real sort of it's not all manipulated and just bogged down by drama of adulthood.  they haven't reached that point yet and I love it.  Partially because sure I wouldn't mind going back to the beginning but then again i wouldn't.  So I live vicariously through Young Adults in books hehe.  Although the dysatopian books, really that could be any age and it still be difficult, but the fact that the characters are so young and they have so much ahead of them it makes it more exciting.

How about you?

Review: Return to Paradise

Return to Paradise By Simone Elkeles
Release Date: September 1, 2010
Series: Leaving Paradise

Description:
Caleb Becker left Paradise eight months ago, taking with him the secret he promised to take to his grave. If the truth got out, it would ruin everything.


Maggie Armstrong tried to be strong after Caleb broke her heart and disappeared. Somehow, she managed to move on. She's determined to make a new life for herself.

But then Caleb and Maggie are forced together on a summer trip. They try ignoring their passion for each other, but buried feelings resurface. Caleb must face the truth about the night of Maggie's accident, or the secret that destroyed their relationship will forever stand between them.


Review:
So here we are again with Caleb getting into trouble.  It's been 8 months since he left and now he's live with Rio, Julio's cousin.  What happens?  The cops bust in the house due to drugs, Caleb goes to the station and Damon comes and bails him out.  Damon gives him two choices either join his Re-Start program which he has to go around with a group of teens telling them how reckless driving is not the thing to do and the consequences that come with that.  Or he can go back to jail.  Of course he chooses the Re-Start program, he goes there and who happens to be on the trip with him?  You've guessed it, Maggie. 

Are they going to finally hash out all their issues.  It's back and forth with them for a while but you can obviously see how much they each want each other.  Everyone in the group can see it as well.  There's one exercise they have that has to deal with trust and that's when all hell breaks out and the truth finally comes out.  Caleb wasn't the one who hit Maggie with the car.

After the program Caleb finally returns home, to a mother who is in rehab, a father who is still clueless and a sister who seems better but is not completely free yet.  He tries to convince her ton finally admit what happened. 

We meet a lot of new great characters in this book such as Lenny, Trish and Julio is bought more into the picture as well.  Lenny is just hilarious and you can't help but like him even if he is an ass, he's had it tough and his story really is sad.  Julio finally gets out and helps everyone see what they could do, how strong they are.  Trish is one of the other people in the Re-start program and her and Lenny are just too good together.

Of course Maggie and Caleb's relationship is up and down in the book but I love to see their relationship grow because they are so different but so perfect together.  I really enjoyed this book and will definitely take the time to check out Simone's other books.  Great quick and easy read.

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This is my second book on my list for the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.  I don't have a formal list of all the books I want to read but there are many and this is just one of many.  Happy reading everyone!!

Beswitched Blogtour Giveaway Reminder

 Today is the last day for a chance to win ebook copies of both these books, just leave your name and a way to contact you  HERE!!

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After spending hundreds of years under the boot-heel of Idis, a frenzied witch, Surla (a magical black cat) decides to run away to find freedom, but there's one catch-- The Black Cats' Rule states it will switch bodies with a lonesome soul.


Cathy, an extremely shy teenage girl, can't muster the guts to ask her crush on a date or stand up to the three biggest snobs at school. What's a girl to do? Could being BeSwitched be the answer to her wishes?




Idis, a hot-tempered witch, was pronounced dead Halloween night. Her runaway cat, Surla, has a horrific premonition-come-true, when Idis escapes the morgue and then a mental hospital. These two enemies unexpectedly cross paths in the woods, triggering the curse of being BeSwitched.

A powerful opportunity comes with Surla switching bodies with her witch. She can dominate the now little black furball, giving her an education, teaching her patience and taking the shrew to the salon for a fun makeover.

The two go to high school together, when Surla passes as a teenage girl with a little help from magic. When Surla is magnetically drawn to the curious new guy, Jax Morreau, she is infatuated. Could ravens, coffins or a cursed ring keep Surla away from her invitation to the Morreau Family Reunion at Lake Sequoia? An ancient mystery will be revealed, but at what cost?

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  Make sure to click on the link below for a chance to win the Blog Tour Grand Prize of a Kindle!  Good Luck everyone and make sure you check out the books!

BeSwitched Blog Tour Grand Prize Giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm "Waiting on":

Biting Cold

By Chloe Neill

Release Date: August 7, 2012

Series: Chicagoland Vampires

Description:

Turned into a vampire against her will, twenty-eight-year-old Merit found her way into the dark circle of Chicago’s vampire underground, where she learned there was more to supernaturals than met the eye—and more supernaturals than the public ever imagined. And not all the secrets she learned were for sharing—among humans or inhumans.

Now Merit is on the hunt, charging across the stark American Midwest, tailing a rogue supernatural intent on stealing an ancient artifact that could unleash catastrophic evil on the world. But Merit is also the prey. An enemy of Chicagoland is hunting her, and he’ll stop at nothing to get the book for himself. No mercy allowed. No rules apply. No lives spared. The race is on

Review: Leaving Paradise

Leaving Paradise
By Simone Elkeles
Release Date: April 7, 2007
Series: Leaving Paradise

Description:
Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

Review:
Imagine if you got into a fight with someone about their girlfriend and you tell them you love them, only later when you're on your way home that person hits you with their car and now you have a limp.  This is the story of Maggie and Caleb. 

We start out with Caleb getting out of jail after serving a year for hitting Maggie (drunk driving after a party).  He's finally free just needs to complete some community service, his hope is that when he gets out and back home that everything will be the same.  A year is a long time and he soon realizes that no one is the same, he feels as if everyone has changed and they need to all go back to the way they were.  But people grow up, grow apart and just deal with things differently.  His mother is popping pills to keep sane, his father is in denial, his sister is now goth and enclosed within her self.  Then there is Maggie the girl he went to jail for hitting.  He ends up working with her and they work against their differences and a relationship blooms.  The feelings he feels for her are so genuine and intense, I loved reading about them.

Maggie feels like a loser because she has a limp and is not in the popular crowd anymore.  She has also lost a year due to surgeries, infections and rehabilitation.  She isn't friends with anyone she was friends with before.  She has no confidence in herself, all she keeps thinking about is getting out of Paradise and going to Spain.  But she loses her sports scholarship because of the accident and luckily finds hope with a nice older lady who wants her to be her companion.  She also happens to be her mother's boss' mother.  They form a relationship and when she speaks Maggie does and low and behold who also happens to come and work with Mrs. Reynolds other than Caleb himself.  That's when the story gets interesting.

Caleb and Maggie are put in a situation where they have to interact on a daily basis, and with this their relationship grows and forgiveness is shown.  Don't get me wrong there are some high points and some low points but it was a great story.  I really can't wait to read the next one because it didn't really end the way I wanted it to end but it definitely has potential.
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This is my first on my list for the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.  I don't have a formal list of all the books I want to read but there are many and this is the first (I'm about to find the second book so I can continue the story).  Happy reading everyone!!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: •Grab your current read •Open to a random page •Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) •Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser for the week:

There's a tin of water and a tin of food set off to the side and I Inhale the cold contents with trembling hands, a dull ache creaking through my bones, a desperate drought suffocating my throat.  Nothing seems to be broken, but one glance under my shirt proves the pain was real.

-Chapter 8

Shatter Me
By Tahereh Mafi
Release Date: November 15, 2011