Review - Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers

Published by St Martin's Press
Published 21 December 2011

Summary - When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?

I've said this so many times it's criminal but HOLY FUCK this woman is some kind of genius.  Her books are just MINDBLOWING.  I want to like bottle up her talent and sell it off little by little and be mega rich and bathe in Champagne (I want this to happen, this is my ultimate dream).  Her writing style and her books are like......BOOM this is whats happening.  NO, I don't care that your mind is spinning and you need time to catch your breath, we're doing this MY way and this is how it goes.  Totally no holds barred, i'm grabbing hold of you and dragging you along and I don't give two shit's if you cry the whole time because this is how this shit's going down.  And OMG I can't seem to get enough of the tough love.

So, Edie's dad has commited suicide, and she's about in on the secret of why he decided to take his own life as much as we the reader is.  Which basically means she knows nothing at all.  So, we get to follow Edie on the treasure hunt for answers she is so desperately needing.  Like her previous books, the prose is tighly wound and hard hitting, sparse but deliberately so.  You can almost feel the tension from the characters ooze from the pages and sink into your skin.  Some of the characters are more well presented than others.  Milo, Edies best friend is always on the periphery, always close enough to reach out too, and you can't help but wish that she would.  Culler is unsettling and bizarre, but charming nonetheless, and his role in Edie's grief propells the story forward at a speed that is uncomfortable yet still nail bitingly slow.  Beth, her mother's tactless and overbearing best friend was a little to much for me to handle, but I guess that was supposed to be the point.  I still want to facepunch her now 3 weeks later.  Bitch.

I think it takes a lot to tackle such a sensitive and terrifying subject, especially when grief is something that is unique to each of us but something that we ultimately have in common.  Its faceted and filled with a million variables, that to be able to make one girls grief feel like MY grief, was mesmorising.  And THIS, this is why I will continue to read anything Summers writes.  She turns letters on a page into something more.  She makes me feel like I am part of the story, that the story is not hers, but MINE.  That through her talent and skill, Edie becomes almost real and because of this her grief and pain and excrutating loss matters to me.  Her words make me care.  Her words are compassion.  I love it.

I HAVE A TUMBLR

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am taking over the internet one site at a time.  No, for real, I HAVE got a Tumblr, just in case the big capital letter's didn't give this away.  

Haven't you heard dahhhhhhling, Microblogging is all the rage now.  Even Gwenyth Paltrow is doing it*.  Basically, Jamie, whose Tumblr and Blog can be found by clicking on those words, started one and has convinced me that microblogging is the way forward, because on here I can post whatever I like REALLY REALLY easy.  Plus, this will be such a fun way to post images and links and music and such lark when I am in NYC.  It will also be home to "Oh Carla" Trade Marked by Jennifer at Makeshift Bookmark, which is the term generally used to describe Drunk Carla.  Plus, all things Carla-lickin-good, Trade Marked by Capillya at That Cover Girl aka Shabby Geek, and YOU KNOW that's what it's about.

So, YAY, I'm here.  Right HERE http://dreamsindaylight.tumblr.com/  but i'm still going to be HERE.  

* I don't actually know if she has one of these, so this is quite possibly a lie.

Waiting on Wednesday - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine

Published by Simon & Schuster
Published 27 September 2011

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

------

So, I first saw this book over on Shabby Geek's blog, That Cover Girl.  It was book lust at first sight.  SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER.  Why are they in the water? Is he dragging her down with his exceptionally muscled arms? If he is, then why is she letting him? AND OMG WHERE DID SHE GET HER DRESS?!

Plus, reading that synopsis made me be a little crazy and flail my arms around shouting (in my head of course) I WANT IT RIGHT NOW.  Because I do.  I want it right now.  Oh, and the artist who took the original photograph the cover has used can be found right here and they are so damn good!!

Review - Real Live Boyfriends by E Lockhart

Published by Delacorte
Published 28 December 2010

Summary - Ruby Oliver is in love. Or it would be love, if Noel, her real live boyfriend, would call her back. But Noel seems to have turned into a pod-robot lobotomy patient, and Ruby can’t figure out why.

Not only is her romantic life a shambles:
Her dad is eating nothing but Cheetos,
Her mother’s got a piglet head in the refrigerator,
Hutch has gone to Paris to play baguette air guitar,
Gideon shows up shirtless,
And the pygmy goat Robespierre is no help whatsoever.

Will Ruby ever control her panic attacks?
Will she ever understand boys?
Will she ever stop making lists?
(No to that last one.)

Roo has lost most of her friends. She’s lost her true love, more than once. She’s lost her grandmother, her job, her reputation, and possibly her mind. But she’s never lost her sense of humor. The Ruby Oliver books are the record of her survival.

Oh Holy SHIT.  It's that simple.  I love this series so much it doesn't just border on obsession, it crossed the line so far into obsession that the line is a dot now (HOLLA).  So, obviously this is book four and the so called final book of the series.  I say "so called" because i'm in that place that other people would call denial but I just call being "logical".  See, I can live in hope that the books are going to continue well into Ruby's college years because that would be like winning the lottery only so much MORE BETTER.  

For those of you who don't know Ruby, let me break it down.  Ruby is a full on loony toon, totally crazy in a way only Ruby can be, obviously laugh out loud funny (without ever trying too hard) and weird and neurotic and INSANE and stupid and silly and she overthinks every. single. thing because surely there is some deeper meaning to everything.  Like, I could so imagine her going on a date with a guy and being all "he bought vanilla ice cream which means he think's i'm boring because vanilla ice cream has no flavour and OMG why didn't he buy chocolate chip, i'm more chocolate chip, WHY!!!!!".  So really, she's kind of like me in that respect.  (I did once fall out with a guy over ice cream flavour choices).  Plus, she likes making lists, and what slightly (okay okay!) crazy girl doens't like making lists?

Lockhart has done it again ladies and gents.  Being quite sincere, this woman is a fucking genius.  Hands down one of my favourite authors and y'all there are a LOT of authors.  Her style of writing is unique because she doesn't just write words down just for the sake of it, she doesn't throw stupid plot twists in to make it more interesting, every word and every scene and every inner dialogue monologue, propell the story forward and every FREAKING word makes me love Ruby even more.  I swear, if I could go spend the day with Ruby I would ditch all my real live friends in a heartbeat.  I'm not gonna lie.  We could sit on the deck of her houseboat and watch her dad pot some plants with Hutch (I LOVE YOU HUTCH) eating cake after cake on our mission to find the best cake in the world.  We would laaaaaaaaaaaugh at her silly eccentric mom making raw food in the kitchen.  We would analyse Noel's poems together and wonder why Gideon must always smell like patchouli and try and figure out why boys do the the boyish things that they do.  AND IT WOULD BE AMAZING.  

You can probably guess from the title that this book is about boys.  And boys you shall get.  Uh huh.  Now, we all know that Ruby is so not a slut, even though those bitches at school think she is, but they're just jealous because Ruby's got game and doesn't need a push up bra to get some first base action.  The awkwardness that normally comes hand in hand with the swoon wasn't on par with the other books BUT that's just because our Ruby is maturing and acting all adult and stuff *snort*.  There is still plenty of "can't watch but can't tear my eyes away from the ridonkulous" moments, plus a lot of "NO RUBY!!! DON'T......okay, I realise you can't hear me because you're a fictional character and your story has already been written but DAMN girl what did you do THAT for?!" moments.  I even cried a couple of times in this book, but maybe that't just me being emotional because this can't be the end! (I feel like Rose in Titanic, I don't want to let go!!)

Okay.  Here's the deal.  This series is like THE series to end all series.  IF you haven't read it then I don't think we can be friends, because if your not friends with Ruby then i'm going to have to be shallow and say you can't be friends with me either.  Your missing out.  If you have read this series and love Ruby just like me, THEN........I think we should go on a mission to find the best cake in the world. Utterly fantastic.  Love them more than words can say.  BLAM!

In My Mailbox aka I had Mimosa's for Brunch and OKAY Breakfast too.

In My Mailbox is hosted by the queen of YA blogs Kristi @ The Story Siren and inspired by the Alarmingly Amazing Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie

Review

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Sarra Manning

Bedlam - Ally Kennen

Quarry - Ally Kennen

Berserk - Ally Kennen

Beast - Ally Kennen

Dancing Jax - Robin Jarvis

Return to Ribblestrop - Andy Mulligan

The Memory Cage - Ruth Eastham

Between Shades of Grey - Ruta Sepetys (I dare you to go to the website and watch the video and NOT cry)

The Queen's Lady - Eve Edwards

Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson 

Diary of a Parent Trainer - Jenny Smith

Withering Tights - Louise Rennison

Bought

Bayou Moon - Ilona Andrews - I want to go shack up with Gordon and Ilona, for realz (also I just now realised when i went to get the link from goodreads that this is the SECOND book in The Edge series and I don't even have the first one.  FAIL.  I just got so darn excited wirth all that one click thing on Amazon, the bastards)

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - I saw this on my lovely friend Jamie's blog (The Perpetual Page Turner) and her review blew me away and I knew that I just had to have this book.

Going Home - Harriet Evans

Alanna, The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce - I am FINALLY loosing my Tamora Pierce virginity and DAMN, I sure hope it's good.

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley - well because IT'S FRICKIN ROBIN MCKINLEY Y'ALL.

SO, there you have it.  I have spent more time than I am willing to admit editing this because every sentence had a spelling mistake.  Remind me never to drink before I actually do the things I need to do when I am sober.  BUT, adieu have fun, i will drink a tequila slammer FOR YOU ALL.  Even those of you who are underage, because i'm kind like that.  BLAM!

Review - Rival by Sara Bennet Wealer

Published by HarperTeen
Published 15 February 2011

Summary -  Meet Brooke: Popular, powerful and hating every minute of it, she’s the “It” girl at Douglas High in Lake Champion, Minnesota. Her real ambition? Using her operatic mezzo as a ticket back to NYC, where her family lived before her dad ran off with an up and coming male movie star.

Now meet Kathryn: An overachieving soprano with an underachieving savings account, she’s been a leper ever since Brooke punched her at a party junior year. For Kath, music is the key to a much-needed college scholarship.

The stage is set for a high-stakes duet between the two seniors as they prepare for the prestigious Blackmore competition. Brooke and Kathryn work toward the Blackmore with eyes not just on first prize but on one another, each still stinging from a past that started with friendship and ended in betrayal. With competition day nearing, Brooke dreams of escaping the in-crowd for life as a professional singer, but her scheming BFF Chloe has other plans. And when Kathryn gets an unlikely invitation to Homecoming, she suspects Brooke of trying to sabotage her with one last public humiliation.

As pressures mount, Brooke starts to sense that the person she hates most might just be the best friend she ever had. But Kathryn has a decision to make. Can she forgive? Or are some rivalries for life?

Sara sure knows how to write teenagers.  From the barbed comments between the girls, to the simple misunderstandings that are construed as something so totally different than intended, she hits the nail on the head.  How even when you are as closer to someone than your own shadow, you can never ever possibly understand them truly.  They will always remain an enigma, no matter how much time you spend with them, or how many hobbies you share, you can only possibly know what it is like to be YOU.

The dual perspective worked so well for this book, because I think you needed to know the motivations and inner monologue for both the girls, to really understand them as characters.  BUT, even when you do get to see into both of the girls heads, somethings are kept secret still.  Both Kathryn and Brooke are relateable, even when you want to shake them,  even when you want to smack them over the head with a microphone, you still can't help but love them a little.  The secondary characters were on form too (from Matt who was too cute for words, or Chloe who needs to be kicked in the shins) they were all authentic and real and really portrayed the frenemy aspect of some high school accuinatances and the fact that high school was sometimes a rather painful experience.  Wealer is a MASTERMIND.  To say this is her debut novel, well, my brain can't even handle that level of amazingness.

And can I get a HOLLA! for the fact that these girl's had actual hobbies?! Hobbies they actually talked about in the books and hobbies that was a BIG part of the overall storyline and the girl's rivalry?  Honestly, I feel like I could go and take part in a singing contest because I know so much about them now! It was like a mini episode of Glee, but without the annoying Rachel Berry and the beneift of rivalry and teenage girls bitchin! NO WAIT! It was like Mean Girls THE MUSICAL but BETTER.  Now tell me that doesn't get you all HYPED!  And the ending? PERFECT.  True to life, true to the characters.  I loved it.  Fabulous debut.  

(p.s. isn't that cover just divine.  I WANT TO LICK IT.  This will not come as a surprise to those of you who know me.)      

Review - Delirium by Lauran Oliver aka My Love Letter to Lauren

Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Published 3 February 2011

Summary - Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that one love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy. 

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

I don't know if I can actually describe how much I loved this book.  I don't think there is a way for me to put words together to make you truly appreciate and understand just how amazing this book is.  I wasn't ready for this book.  It was like a sledge hammer to the chest.  And the blows just kept on coming.  It was fear put into words that sometimes love will not be enough.  It was every worry and doubt you have ever had about falling in love.  It was every smile and every butterfly swarming in your stomach and every kiss from the person you love.  It was love at its very worst and love at its absolute best all at the same time.  It was knowing that for every heartbreak you had to fall in love in the first place, so wasn't it worth it?  It was soul shattering and heartbreaking and so beautiful it was unreal.  

Oliver's writing is simplistic in a very complicated and artistic way.  She knows how to write, in fact......DAMN, I can't even describe it.   It's effortless and gorgeous, but you can still see her talent in how sentences are structed and how the storyline is displayed to us readers.  Like with Before I Fall, she has created a story this is both uplifting and more than a little soul destroying.  It's a roller coaster ride of emotions; she takes your hand and tugs you gently along, all the while letting you dwell on certain moments, but other times being relentless and almost forcing you to confront what's happening and pulling you along with her.

Delirium is a love story unlike any I have ever read.  Almost two months after turning the last page, those last few lines are burned into my memory.  A book like no other about love like no other.  Lauren Oliver truly is a phenomenal writer, from being able to build a world with words as it's foundation, to making people believe that despite everything, despite all the horrid things in this world, despite all the pain and sorrow and despair, that love really does mean more to us than we could ever possibly comprehend.  I have no doubt that one day this woman will change the world with her words.  Compellingly heartbreaking and earth shatteringly beautiful, Delirium is quite possibly one of the most extraordinary books I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

BUT WAIT I'VE NOT FINISHED.

I know.  I KNOW.  I can hear you, and it's coming I promise.  I have ladies and gentleman, wrote the wonderful Miss Oliver a love letter.  Why you may ask.  To which I will reply - BECAUSE THAT'S HOW I ROLL.  BLAM!!  

To Lauren

Your words are magic, like glitter and dust
I could devour them all day and still not adjust
To the way they make my heart soar
They creep under my skin, right to the very core
They wrap around me like a warm embrace and capture
My heart and hold it with rapture
It's like you cracked open your heart and let it all pour out 
You're amazingly talented, you leave no room for doubt
That love is something to hold onto, which means i'm infected
But your words hold power and they have perfected
What it means to be in love
They make me feel alive like no others could
Your words, so perfectly crafted to me
I want you to know my love for them is infinite, deeper than the deepest sea
I want to scatter them across the night sky to watch how brightly they shine
They would make the stars and moon redundant, they are simply divine
I am infected, I don't want the cure.
I love your words. Remember.  Of this I am sure.

Your fan, now, then and forever, Carla.

Review - I Know It's Over by C. K. Kelly Martin

Published by Random House
Published 23 September 2008

PURE. UNPLANNED. PERFECT. Those were Nick’s summer plans before Sasha stepped into the picture. With the collateral damage from his parents’ divorce still settling and Dani (his girl of the moment) up for nearly anything, complications are the last thing he needs. All that changes, though, when Nick runs into Sasha at the beach in July. Suddenly he’s neck-deep in a relationship and surprised to find he doesn’t mind in the least. But Nick’s world shifts again when Sasha breaks up with him. Then, weeks later, while Nick’s still reeling from the breakup, she turns up at his doorstep and tells him she’s pregnant. Nick finds himself struggling once more to understand the girl he can’t stop caring for, the girl who insists that it’s still over.

I am pretty certain that Martin is some kind of mastermind.  A mastermind of WORDS! I have never read a book before that dealt with teen pregnancy from the boys perspective and I don't even know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting THIS.  Her ability to weave some seriously heavy shit into a story that manages to be both quiet and loud is so extraordinary it makes my head spin.  This is one of those books that under all the details there is a message; a message that will probably piss a lot of people off, but that's just the way Martin rolls and I LOVE HER for it.  And this was her debut novel.  My brain can't even HANDLE THAT SHIZZ.

What makes a book that could easily be cast aside as one of those "issue books" different is the way the story is told to us as the reader.  We don't get thrown into the story with hardly any information, we're slowly immersed into the lives of BOTH Nick and Sasha, pre and post pregnancy.  We get to see the good times, the amazing times and even the horrifically bad times.  Their relationship is as much a part of the story as is the decisions thay have 

Nick.  Oh Nick.  THIS IS WHY I LOVE MALE POV THE BEST.  He hands down makes me want to cry.  He's frustrated and scared and annoyed and moody and funny and sweet and REAL.  Damn, it's hard enough being a teenager coping with high school and part times jobs and hobbies, let alone a girlfriend thats pregnant.  And that's what Martin shows us (shows, not tells, authors take note), she show's us how accidents can come back to completely take over your life.  I'm not a boy and i'm not a teenager (YAY) but I still managed to feel like I knew Nick like I know myself because he was JUST THAT WELL WRITTEN.

And I love Martin for not being afraid to tackle something a lot of other people would think was a crazy subject.  I love her for showing that pregnancy affects the boy just as much as the girl.  It was devastating and raw, unrelentless and insightful.  When Sasha made her decision, it was like she was making the decision for ME, that it was going to affect ME in some way, and when she did, Nick completely stole the show.  Mind. Blown.

In My Mailbox Vlog Style

IMM is hosted by the fantabulous Kristi @ The Story Siren (who in her own words "is changing thw world one smile at a time) and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie (who in MY own words, is changing the world one knitted mitten at a time)

Okay, so I mentioned lotsa people in there didn't I? so I'm going to be fancy and put their links right here, LIKE MAGIC. 

Lenore - Presenting Lenore

Forever Young Adult

Capillya aka Shabby Geek aka That Cover Girl
Jeffrey and Jeremy West - Novel Thoughts

EDIT!!!

I missed some of the books I got off my video, because i'm a flake.  STOP SHAKING YOUR HEAD, you already know this and should be suspecting something like this ANYWAY.  So here is a list of ALL the books I received with links to goodreads :-)

The 13 Secrets - Michelle Harrison

Ravenwood - Andrew Peters

Anna and The French Kiss - Stephenie Perkins

Siren - Tricia Rayburn

Fall for Anything - Courney Summers

Five Flavours of Dumb - Antony John

I Know it's Over - C.K. Kelly Martin

Magic on the Storm - Devon Monk

Rival - Sara Bennet Wealer

Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S King

Review - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Published by Dutton
Published 2 December 2010

If you're a narcisstic douche like me, then when you first saw this book cover you probably groaned really loud and covered your eyes.  You may have even shook your fist at the sky and said "why? no really, WHY?!".  Then you probably will have decided to not be so judgemental, because well, the smartest of people know that you should never EVER judge books by their covers.  (Unless they are covers like these, in which case, you are totally forgiven because I do totally did too).  That's my reasoning behind WHY dust jackets can be removed.  Moving on.....

So Anna is so being forced to move to Paris and enrol for a year at The School of America (more commonally known as SOAP, yeah, i'm not joking) by her dad, who, by the way, is some best selling author *coughs*.  Even if he does think that a year abroad will do Anna good, what with the French culture and the learning a new language and the broadening of horizons, he is STILL forcing her to do this completely shitty thing.  Because Anna doesn't want to go to Paris.  She wants to figure out whats going on with the maybe kinda sorta would be boyfriend.  She wants to enjoy senior year with her BFF in a country that she knows, in a country that speaks her own language.  DUH.  Simples.  Enter some snazzy new friends and a short British dude named St. Clair and SHAZZAM, maybe senior year isn't going to suck so much because OH MY GOSH, St. Clair is so totally SMOKIN! (and short but oh well) but HOLD THE PHONE..................he has a girlfriend.  LAME. Someone throw the girl a fire extinguisher so she can put out the flame in her heart before it consumes her in its fiery grasp!!  

Okay, so i'm just going to put it right out there.  The romance between Anna and St. Clair was done perfectly.  There is no doubt in my mind that Perkins is an incredibly talented writer.  She knows how to throw out all the unneccesary purple prose and really get down to the basics of a good soild foundation and how to build a relationship up from there, into something I can fully believe in.  I HATE when romance follows the all too predictable path of rushing into things to soon, because as a reader you never get the opportunity to understand and observe the attraction between the two love interests.  You're just TOLD they like each other and you're just supposed to believe that.  I don't want to believe things.  I want to KNOW things.  I want to know for certain why two people would choose to be together.  I want to know how regardless of all the shit they have to go through and all the obstacles they have to overcome, that they possibly could make it.  Slap dash romances never get this right.  They always assume we should just follow because they lead.  And you know why I think this relationship worked? because it was built on something.  Friendship.

You know you have a good writer on your hands when you can put your faith in a relationship even if you have luke warm feelings for the actualy people involved.  I'm just going to say it.......I didn't like St. Clair all that much.  NOT that he wasn't a fascinating character because he most certainly was.  He was endearing and stupid and had a divine accent (ahem, I have the same one.  BEAT THAT).  He was well developed and I felt that he got enough page time to actually understand Anna's attraction to him.  He just wasn't swoon worthy for me.  I mean, I get it.  I really get why people are salivating over this character.  I totally get why people are declaring undying love for him on the internets.  I just don't see it myself.  I mean, the way he handled things was kind of immature and some of the things he did were seriously jacked up.  I have never understood the fascination with RPattz either.  Go figure.

And Mr Ashely? Anna's dad? Quite possibly my favourite character.  If I could go out today and buy a copy of The Entrance, I'm not gonna lie, I probably would.  I would sit and eat croissants smothered in dark chocolate and read his latest masterpiece, which of course would lead to me crying into my coffee cup.  The quite obvious fact that her dad was based on the jackassedness of the king of the douches (Sparks my man, i'm lookin atchoo) gave me no end of pleasure.  Plus, the setting was everything I wanted it to be and more.  The descriptions of the Notre Dame, of the tiny cinema houses and theatres Anna often vistied.  Of the food she ate.  Oh gosh the food!! The importance of Point Zero and everything else that is pretty and amazing about Paris all in one book.  

*****BIG FAT SPOILER AHEAD*****

Wow, this is getting long so i'll cut to the chase.  St. Clair never had me because he never truly acted like a man.  The fact that he cheated on his girlfriend and then got with Anna straightaway is not something I can swoon over.  I can't.  Maybe it's the narcissit in me that's thinking about his poor ex-girlfriend.  Yeah, I know she's supposed to be a mega bitch and everything but that just all seems a little bit too coincidental to me.  I don't care if she was a bitch.  I lost respect for Anna and for St. Clair when they did that.  Had they waited until he broke up with his girlfriend then I would've been fighting for control of the Anna love train.  As it is, i'm happy to let that train go past me and wait for the next one, whatever that may be.  

"Boys turns girls into such idiots." 

Yes, Anna.  YOU ARE SO TOTALLY RIGHT.  So that's why I forgive you for being a harlot and letting a guy with a long term girlfriend sleep in your bed.  And well done for not trying to remove his clothes.  I know that must've been hard for you.  

In conclusion, I kind of loved this book and I kind of hated it.  It wasn't fireworks in the sky with the person you love, but neither was it being stood up on valentines.  It was a nice lunch with friends and a guy that's maybe something more giving you smexy glances from across the room.  It was a who knows what could happen.  It's endless possibilties and uncertain futures.  It is a book that won't change the world, but may just change a lot of the people in it.

Illegal Downloads - A Readers Perspective

You probably have all heard atleast a LITTLE of the drama that seems to have clogged up my twitter stream since early this morning, concering the illegal downloading of books online.  How I see it is this - I don't think it's unreasonable to wake up and check your twitter stream and find nice conversations and lovely @ replies from friends.  I do not think it is unreasonable to not ever be told that someone has stole something from you.  But oh, wait, not to worry, because really it's all YOUR fault.

In this instance i'm taking about, a lady on twitter told one of my favourite authors, who shall be called Sarah Rees Brennan (because i'm all about the smoke and mirrors) that she had illegally downloaded a copy of her book because she couldn't find the correct format for her e-reader since she lived in Australia.  She then went on to DEFEND her actions (even though she has blatantly STOLE from this person) and pointed out that Sarah, as the author, should work harder to ensure her books are available in more countries and in more formats.  God forbid that this woman should actually PAY for the shipping of the book, or actually maybe visit the library and tell one of the librarians what she was looking for.  Who knows? maybe the librarian would've ordered and PAID for the book if they didn't already have it, because the demand is there.  This one little request is proof that people want to read this book.  This one tiny little request could mean LOTS more books from this author, because hey guess what? People actually want to BUY their books, and if people want to BUY their books then that means publishers will actually want to publish them.

Now, I don't like getting involved in this kind of thing.  In fact, I try to avoid it at all costs.  I do not know a lot about the publishing world and it would be vulgar and naive of me to act like I did.  I am not saying that I am right.  This is just my opinion.  I would never presume to know better than some people on this particular subject but I do know this - STEALING IS AGAINST THE LAW.  There are no grey areas on this subject.  It is not subjective, it is what it is.  It is black and white.  You download a book from the internet illegally and you are breaking the law.  Just because it is easier to download books and not get caught, does not mean that what you are doing is okay.  That's just like saying "oh well, pardon me, they left their door wide open when they went out, they was basically *asking* to get robbed".  You would not steal someone's purse.  You would not walk into a bookstore and put a copy of a book you wanted into your bag and walk out.  So why download illegally? I don't get it.  And do not ever say it is not the same thing.  It is EXACTLY the same thing. 

From a readers perspective, people that do this kind of thing offend me in some personal way.  I LOVE to read.  I love it more than I probably should.  A LOT of the books that I want to read are not published here in the UK.  And you know what? I'm okay with that.  Thats life.  I can't always have my own way.  My favourite author won't always have the UK rights to their books sold.  My bookstore will never carry the books I want to buy because it costs too much too import them.  You know what? IT SUCKS.  It really really blows.  But do I go online and download it illegally? NOPE.  I sacrifice a LOT of money on buying imports of books.  I sacrifice maybe going out with friends at the weekend because I want to buy books, and I can't just pop into the library and loan them because it's 99% likely my library doesn't even stock them.  I order books online and PAY for them.  Without Book Depository and Amazon I fear my social life would be non-existent because I would have to pay extortionate amounts on shipping.  I swap books with friends, if I have a book a friend wants to read, we just trade and it makes it all the more satisfying.  I hate to think that people can't get hold of books because I know how much it sucks, but that STILL doesn't give any of us the right to steal it from the author.

PLUS, for every book that's downloaded illegally, that authors sales figures will not increase as they should do.  That means that their publishing house AND the author are not going to see the fruits of their labour.  That means, if sales are not high, it's highly possible that author will never sell a book again.  It's possible that by downloading a book illegally you have inadvertantly destroyed someones career.  I don't know about you, but that's a really natsy, spiteful, hateful thing to do.  It's possible that my favourite authors will never sell more books because people won't stop stealing from them.  As a reader, I don't know how you can't feel shame about doing that.  I don't know how you can do something that has the potential to affect a LOT of people.  As a reader, you should love reading for the joy it brings you, for the conversations it starts, for its ability to unite the most different of people.  As a reader, you should know how it feels to love a book so much you can't possibly wait another second for the next book that author is going to release.  As a reader, how disappointed would you be to find out that because people stole from an author you love, you will never read another new word they have wrote?  As a reader, how can you steal something from somebody knowing it could harm a lot of people, maybe even destroy them.  How could you do that to someone? Who knows, you could even be harming yourself.

The Replacement Blog Tour

So, The Replacement by the amazing Brenna Yovanoff has been published by Simon Pulse so now all my lovely UK followers and readers can go out a buy a copy of this creeptastic book!! Also, as part of this stop on the UK blog tour, you have the pleasure of seeing crazy old me actually TALK about how amazing this book is.  ENJOY.

Thanks again to the lovely publicists at Simon and Schuster for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.  You guys rock my socks!

Review - Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Published by Knopf
Published 26 October 2010

Summary - Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? 

I am going to be shallow and admit that the number one reason why I wanted to read this book so much was the cover.  Plus, who DOESN'T want to imgaine that there is some (super hot) guy out there who is willing to accept random challenges that you have laid out in a little red notebook hid in only *the* best bookstore in the city? As so, me and the book bonded over our mutual love of random occurances, notebooks and bookshops and most important of all THE JOY THAT IS CHRISTMAS.

Told from alternating points of view, we get to see a little into both Dash's (Dash's's?!) and Lily's head, which i think was crucial to the story because really, Dash and Lily weren't all that similar, except in the notion that they were fanciful enough to wander round the city and leave each other rather personal and heartfelt entries in a red moleskin.  Dash with his super cute if a little intense obession with words.  Lily with her naievty and knowledge that she was more than a little kooky.  There are so many things I loved about the book.  The fact that Lily feels the same as me about Hermione.  The way that Dash wants a OED.  The way Lily loves christmas so much because it truly is the most magical time in the world.  Not to mention it's like a free excuse to drink in the daytime, because DER, it's the holidays.  The witty one liners, namely, the scene with the king of christmas himself anf the envelope? Crap, I have never laughed so hard at such a simple line.  You know which one right?

One of the best parts? I've always really thought of NYC as this magical place, where anything is possible, where nobody every sleeps and something amazing is ALWAYS happening, even in horrid places like grimey alleys and rundown hotels.  Reading this book made me even more excited for my trip to the city this summer.  I want to go and get lost in the miles and miles of bookshelves in the strand.  I want to bug the guys at the information desk and regale them with random tales of my life in England.  I want to go to the heaven that is described as Max Brenner where you can buy chocolate injections.  CHOCOLATE INJECTIONS!!!! I even went online because surely this miracle was made up, as most literary works are conjured from people's imaginations, and OMG IT'S REAL!!

The story is built upon a seemingly carefree and unusual romance between two teenagers conversing through a notebook.  It starts off quite laid back laced through with witty moments, and then takes a sharp turn to seriousnessville, and it weirded me out that the authors had choose to take the story down that particular route.  Now, I may be being cynical here, but the exploration of how relationships work, and how dastardly they can be, took me out of the enjoyment for a while, because it seemed like I was being TOLD how introspective the characters actually were.  Like I was being told, HEY LOOK, this isn't just a nice romance, it's also very very very intelligent.  But still, I laughed my arse off.  I wish they would stick to comedy in the future.  Just pure comedy gold.