Confessions of a Bibliovore

When I started this blog back in 2009 I didn't know book blogging was a thing . I just started posting about books in a sort of "book journal" kind of way, in order for me to have something to look back years later and reflect. I honestly thought I was being a little unique by doing this. I'm not exactly sure how I stumbled across my first book blog but then I discovered this whole new world! And so my journey into reviewing books began. After a short time of reviewing, I discovered ARC's. Everyone was getting them and they were...free books! Free books that weren't even released yet! I found it amazing and wonderful and oh I wanted all the books! But...I didn't request any. Part of me believed that I wasn't a good enough reviewer. I was very inconsistent in my reading and blogging habits. So I waited and after a while, I decided I had enough books and I didn't need to request any after all. So there. [Although there was one time that I did request...

Okay, the thing about Grayson is that you read the synopsis and...that's it. Basically, there is nothing else to the story. It was cute to start off but it got boring after a bit because of the excessive and unnecessary details that seemed to be there just to fill up the pages. I get that the author tries to create a sort of "magical" experience for the reader, but I think instead the story is dragged on more than it should be. I did manage to finish the whole book in no time (because it is a short book) but skimmed a huge portion of it, wondering when and if Grayson would actually find his mother. This one just wasn't for me but I was able to get through it quick enough that when I did finish it, I did not feel frustrated for giving it more time than needed.

Title: Dangerous Boys Author:  Abigail Haas Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books Release date: August 14th 2014 Pages: 336 Genre: Young Adult contemporary mystery Source: Bought Add to Goodreads  |  Purchase from Amazon It all comes down to this. Oliver, Ethan, and I. Three teens venture into an abandoned lake house one night. Hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding. The other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder ...? Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece the story together - a story of jealousy, twisted passion and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful faces ... My rating: 4 out of 5 stars I read Dangerous Girls over two years ago, and even though I have the worst memory when it co...

I'm so excited to have one of my favorite authors, Courtney Summers, here for an author interview today! This interview is part of the blog tour for her newest release, All the Rage . 1. How has writing All the Rage been different or similar from writing your previous novels? All of my novels have been challenging to write in their own ways but All the Rage was one of the most difficult books I’ve ever written. My writing process isn’t the tidiest, but it’s a little more straightforward than All the Rage’s turned out to be. I’d been working on it since around 2009/2010 and I’d set it aside for my other books. When St. Martin’s acquired it in 2012, it went through about six drafts before it was done. It took a while to figure out exactly how I wanted to tell it. It was all worth it in the end, though! I’m very proud of this book. 2. As an advocate for sexual assault survivors, I'm always excited to see authors whose books I enjoy take on this topic. What message would you like r...

Title: Finding Paris Author: Joy Preble Publisher: Balzer & Bray/HarperTeen Release date: April 21st 2015 Pages: 272 Genre: Young Adult contemporary Source: Edelweiss - I received a free advance eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks! Add to Goodreads  |  Purchase from Amazon Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can't trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who's moved them all to Las Vegas. It's just the two of them: Paris, who's always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind--going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love. But Leo isn't going anywhere right now, except driving around Vegas all night with her sister. Until Paris ditches Leo at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris--a clue. Is it some kind of...

Since Goodreads added the annual challenge on the website, I've participated. I've completed it once and it was usually because I would set it unrealistically high that I didn't get to my goal. Last year I set it at 25 books. I came nowhere near it, and ended up just updating it as I finished a book. That's how I finally earned a badge of completion for one. This year, I've been doing pretty well. Mostly because I've also added the graphic novels I've read and such but now I'm two books behind and that made me a little sad. Not sure if I'll catch up at this rate now. It might seem easy enough but I always have a hard time keeping up. Maybe now that I've started DNF'ing books, I might get through more quicker. We will see how it goes. Do you participate in the GR challenge? Or any others?

Title: Blood Red Road by Moira Young Series: Dust Lands #1 Genre: Young Adult - Dystopia Publication: June 7, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry Books Format: Hardcover Source: Purchased Rating: ★★★ Synopsis: Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when four cloaked horsemen capture Lugh, Saba's world is shattered, and she embarks on a quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the outside world, Saba discovers she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba's unrelenting search for Lugh stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. Thought...

I'm so excited to have Janet Gurtler here for an author interview today! Her newest book, The Truth About Us , just came out last Tuesday. 1.  Without spoiling anything, could you tell us what was your favorite scene to write in  The Truth About Us ? Well, I don’t want to spoil things, but there’s a scene late in the book that takes place on the beach that I really enjoyed writing. :) There may be kissing. 2.  If you had to pair up your main character from The Truth About Us , Jess, with the main character from any of your other books, who do you think she would get along with best? That’s actually really hard to think of! Jess is going through some “things” in this book and has a lot of growing up to do. By the end of the book, I think I’d most like to see her hanging out with Jaz from If I Tell . I think they would be really good for each other. Different people with different backgrounds, but they have a lot of core similarities and I think they’d mesh together well. 3...

There's usually a reason for me to pick up a book. Usually there's hype surrounding it, or a movie being released soon, or a club read, etc. I don't normally pick up books at random. But I created a TBR jar sometime last year and that's how The Raven Boys was picked up. While it has hype and has been really popular, I heard very little about it. I fell completely in love with the story and cannot wait to read the rest of the series. There is nothing I can say about the awesomeness of this book that hasn't been said already. So let me just say that I love how magical Stiefvater's books are. Everytime I read something she's written, I feel like I'm dipping myself into a pool of magic. From her unique take on the fantasy genre, to her amazing description of characters, I always feel like I'm part of a fairytale. Stiefvater always has several characters the reader follows, different points of views, and a lot of development for each of them but it al...

Title: Things We Know by Heart Author: Jessi Kirby Publisher: HarperTeen Release date: April 1st 2015 Pages: 304 Genre: YA contemporary romance Source: NetGalley - I received a free advance eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks! Add to Goodreads  |  Purchase from Amazon After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all. Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops in...

I used to hate marking books as DNF; I hated giving up on them. Part of my new year resolutions a couple years ago was to finish all the books I started. That meant no DNF. I did really well actually but I noticed it slowed me down. I was reading less books because I was struggling to get through these books I wasn't enjoying too much. One of the reasons why I didn't want to mark books as "did not finish" was because I felt guilty. Maybe it was just me being a slow reader or something? I also felt that with having a book blog and writing up my reviews, I needed a variety of ratings. So if I was giving up all the books I didn't like, would it be good enough to write an honest review? Should I even write one since I didn't even finish the book? And at what point do I give up? So many questions! And also, would I even have 1, 2 or 3 star reviews ever again? It seemed like in order to review these books that I thought weren't great, was to actually finish ...

I never actually don't read. I read often, sometimes just a few pages when I have breakfast, sometimes just a couple sentences while I'm waiting in line. I normally have a book with me, even if I have a small purse, I'll just have a book in my car. It's part of the things I grab when I run out the door (keys, wallet, glasses, book, etc.) It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I realized I felt like I was forcing myself to read books I didn't want to. For example, Fight Club. I've had this book sitting on my shelf for years and I finally decided to give it a go because so many people love it and I haven't seen the movie... And you know what? I didn't like it. I gave up about halfway thinking, "Yuck, I can't finish this." There was nothing particularly wrong with the story or anything, it just wasn't for me. Palahniuk's writing has never grabbed my attention the way it has for other people. That's okay though. Instead, I...

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After Author:  Stephanie Perkins Publisher: Dutton Release date: January 1st 2014 Pages: 352 Genre: YA contemporary romance Source: Bought Add to Goodreads  |  Purchase from Amazon Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss , but I was a little disappointed by Lola and the Boy Next Door , so I lowered my expectations for  Isla and the Happily Ever After . Luckily, though, Isla and the Happily Ever After exceeded all my expectations! It ...

New releases: Lies I Told by Michelle Zink: April 7th The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler: April 7th I Am Her Revenge  by Meredith Moore: April 7th First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano: April 14th All the Rage by Courtney Summers: April 14th City Love by Susane Colasanti: April 21st 99 Days by Katie Cotugno: April 21st Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby: April 21st Finding Paris by Joy Preble: April 21st Lying Out Loud: A Companion to The DUFF by Kody Keplinger: April 28th Invincible by Amy Reed: April 28th New in paperback: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson: April 2nd Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally: April 7th What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick: April 7th Boys Like You by Juliana Stone: April 7th Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt: April 14th Art of Secrets by James Klise: April 21st Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu: April 21st Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook: April 21st Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertso...