IMM 7/24/2011

"In My Mailbox" is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we get to see what goodies everyone has gotten the past week.  The books shared can be ones that were bought, borrowed, won, or received to review.

 

The past several weeks have been a little crazy for me... one of my best friends got married last weekend; finals are coming up and I started a new job which I am absolutely loving.... Unfortunately, I haven't bought any books, but I have received several from the publishers which I greatly appreciate and can't wait to read them... So...here they are: 

 

 All links go to GoodReads

Road from the West: Chronicles of Tancred #1  Roseanne E. Lortz; Madison Street Publishing;  September 2011

Best Kept Secret: A Novel Amy Hatvany; Simon & Schuster; June 2011

The Foreigners Maxine Swann; Riverhead Publishing; August 2011

The Very Thought of You; Rosie Alison; Simon & Schuster; June 2011

Darkness, My Old Friend; Lisa Unger; Crown Publishing; August 2011

The Map of Time; Felix J. Palma; Atria; June 2011

What goodies did you get this week???   Happy Reading!!!

Follow Friday: 7/8/11

If you are new to the #FF fun, Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that expands your blog following by a joint effort between bloggers. First you leave your name, then you create a post on your own blog that links back  and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them hi in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!  Thanks to Rachel @ Parajunkee's View for hosting this each week.

This week's question is:

Q. Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished? 

I have to say that I'm not big on finishing books that I don't like. There are way too many great books out there waiting to be read for me to finish one that I'm not enjoying.... I can't say that I have ever finished one that I didn't like.

What about you???

Review: Stay

Stay by Deb Caletti
Simon Pulse; April 2011
 313 pages
ISBN13: 9781442403734


I purchased this book after reading some great reviews on it, reading an interview with the author, and because of the story line. I can say that it surpassed my expectations.

Clara meets Christian at a basketball game and its immediate attraction for both. Only as the story moves forward does that attraction turn into obsessiveness. It alternates with us meeting Christian and how the love between him and Clara unfolds. In the beginning, Christian is all that a teenage girl could want, he's attractive, he's sweet, he knows just what to say and when to say it... then slowly he changes. The alternating chapters are those of which Clara and her dad have left town to escape the past and try to move forward.

Clara was a character that I could totally relate to. She was a normal teenage girl looking forward to her senior year of high school, hanging out with friends, moving off to college etc. She was realistic, strong, and had determination.

Christian was easy to fall for in the beginning. But soon the truth unfolded slowly and he became controlling, manipulative, dark and bitter. He has secrets that he hides and hides them well.

Caletti does a wonderful job in bringing the abusive relationship in slowly, the writing was amazing, and all of the characters come to life as you are anticipating what is going to happen next... will we run, is there really someone watching, why do we have to lie to protect others, to protect ourselves?

If you have never been in an abusive relationship it's easy to say "just leave" or "I wouldn't put up with that". The story shows how easy it is to become sucked into a relationship and fall for someone who is abusive and not want to leave even though you know you have to. You have to leave for your own protection and your own sanity.

I recommend this book to teens who are just beginning to date, to adults who are dating and have that little voice telling them something may not be just right, and to parents of those same people so that they can have an open and honest discussion about how love is not supposed to hurt, be abusive, controlling or manipulative.

Purchase this book: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Book Depository

IMM 7/3/11

"In My Mailbox" is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we get to see what goodies everyone has gotten the past week.  The books shared can be ones that were bought, borrowed, won, or received to review.

 

Bought:

Possession (possession #1)  by Elana Johnson

Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Stay by Deb Caletti

Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) by Kiersten White

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Abandon (Abandon Trilogy #1) by Meg Cabot

From the Publishers:

In Her Wake by Nancy Rappaport.... this one will be on tour on my blog... Be sure to watch for it

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

Best Kept Secret: A Novel by Amy Hatvany

The Full Moon Bride by Shobhan Bantwal.... signed by the author...also will be on tour here

Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu

So... I think I can stay busy for a bit with all these great books!  What did YOU get this week???

 

Lets clear our NetGalley books!!!

So how many of us have TONS of NetGalley books that we need to read???  I know I do!

Here's something we can do about it........  Emily over at Red House Books is hosting this for us.  

It's really simple.... You read all the NetGalley books that you can throughout the month of July.  You have to keep up with what you read and check in with Emily at the end of the month.  All who do will be entered to win $15 worth of books from Book Depository....which means its international!

Be sure to go over to Emily's site and check it out.  She will also be posting some "tasks" related to NetGalley and Lindsey at NetGalley will be doing a Twitter chat this month.

Ready?  Get those E-readers out and let's go!!!