Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker Review and Giveaway ~ Blog Tour

Smash & Grab
by Amy Christine Parker
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 19th, 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

Synopsis:

Ocean’s Eleven meets the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story. Grab some popcorn and get ready for an adrenaline-filled heist!

LEXI is a rich girl who loves a good rush. Whether it’s motorcycle racing or BASE jumping off a building in downtown Los Angeles, the only times she feels alive are when she and her friends are executing one of their dares. After her father’s arrest, Lexi doesn’t think twice about going undercover at his bank to steal the evidence that might clear his name. She enlists her hacker brother and her daredevil friends to plan a clever heist.

CHRISTIAN is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The local gang has blackmailed him and his friends into robbing banks, and he is desperate for a way out. When the boss promises that one really big job will be the last he ever has to do, Christian jumps at the chance for freedom. In fact, he’s just met a girl at the bank who might even prove useful. . . .

Two heists. One score. The only thing standing in their way is each other.

Told in alternating points of view, this caper is full of romance and fast-paced fun. Hand to fans of Perfect Chemistry, The Conspiracy of Us, and Heist Society.

If there is one thing I look for in a book, it is a good heist executed by intelligent teens. This book takes this up to a whole new level by including two groups of teenage con artists from completely different backgrounds who collide while they are in the middle of completing their most risky crimes yet. Plus, an unlikely star-crossed romance? Sign me up! If there is one thing I can say to describe Smash & Grab overall, it is that this book was a very entertaining, easy-going read that is perfect for anyone who likes YA books with a fun, unique plot.

The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison Review, Quotes & Giveaway ~ Blog Tour

The Killer in Me
by Margot Harrison
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: July 12th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Contemporary, Fiction

Synopsis:

Hasn't he lived long enough? Why not? I could take him like a thief in the night.

This is how the Thief thinks. He serves death, the vacuum, the unknown. He’s always waiting. Always there.

Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.

Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.

But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

I seriously almost did not finish this book, but not because I disliked it or thought it was bad. On the contrary, it was performing its purpose better than I expected, and I was unsure if I could handle more. Me being me, I continued because I was hooked and dying to know more This book was scary, mysterious, and thrilling all at the same time. I honestly did not expect it to put me on a psychological roller coaster, but I was strapped in and I stayed put for the entirety of this book. 

White Sand by Brandon Sanderson ~ Impeccable Reviews

Series: White Sand #1
Publication Date: July 5, 2015
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Format: eARC (from Netgalley)
Page Count: 160

A brand new saga of magic and adventure by #1 New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. On the planet of Taldain, the legendary Sand Masters harness arcane powers to manipulate sand in spectacular ways. But when they are slaughtered in a sinister conspiracy, the weakest of their number, Kenton, believes himself to be the only survivor. With enemies closing in on all sides, Kenton forges an unlikely partnership with Khriss -- a mysterious Darksider who hides secrets of her own. White Sand brings to life a crucial, unpublished part of Brandon Sanderson's sprawling Cosmere universe. The story has been adapted by Rik Hoskin (Mercy Thompson), with art by Julius Gopez and colors by Ross Campbell. Employing powerful imagery and Sanderson's celebrated approach to magical systems, White Sand is a spectacular new saga for lovers of fantasy and adventure.

 I was super excited to see this Graphic Novel on Netgalley after reading Brandon Sanderson's book, The Rithmatist, a while back and it being one of my new favorite fantasy novels. This world of different groups or people with powerful magic systems drew me into reading the book, but I have to say that unfortunately, White Sand didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts ~ Impeccable Reviews

Publication Date: November 10, 2015
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Format: eARC (from Netgalley)
Page Count: 304

Seventeen-year-old Tamsen Baird didn’t set out to become a teenage widow. All she did was fall in love and get married. But when her nineteen-year-old husband, Noah, dies suddenly in the middle of the night, her whole life changes. Now Tam is forced to return to the existence she thought she’d left behind—beginning with moving back home and finishing high school. But in order to overcome her loss and find her way forward, she’ll need to reinvent herself and reach out to others in ways she never imagined. She’ll need to open herself up to living—and even loving—again.

I think the synopsis of this book can possibly mislead a person into thinking it is some type of mystery, but it's definitely not, nor does it need to be. The focus of the book is not on how or when Tamsen's (the main character) husband dies, but how it affects her life and how she chooses to move forward from it. I have to say I enjoyed the direction the book took and it felt like a thoughtful contemporary.

Weekly Reflections: An Intro ~ Audio Post #1

Welcome to the new posts that are called Weekly Reflection and will be posted every Monday. I hope you enjoy. It includes a blog post recap, book haul, currently reading, and other fun topics

All The Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson ~ Impeccable Review

Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Perigee (Penguin Random House)
Genre: Poetry
Format: Hardcover (from Publisher)
Page Count: 144

Every day for the past six years, Tyler Knott Gregson has written a simple haiku about love, and posted it online. These heartfelt poems have attracted a large and loyal following around the world. This highly anticipated follow-up to Chasers of the Light, presents Tyler’s favorites, some previously unpublished, accompanied by his signature photographs, which capture the rich texture of daily life.

This vibrant collection reveals the intimate reflections of one of poetry's most popular new voices -- honest, vulnerable, generous, and truly present in the gift that is each moment.

This book is absolutely beautiful. There is really very little I can say other than you need to go pick it up and try it for yourself. I knew this was a haiku about love when I initially began reading it, and I had already been wanting to read the book Chaser of the Light by the same author because I had heard nothing but wonderful things about it.

Why You MUST Read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

As a person who lives their life as a normal citizen and participant of the world (rather than spending their life under a rock), you've most likely heard of the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. You've probably also heard that it is a highly acclaimed African classic, and maybe that was enough for you to dump it in the list of notable books you should read sometime soon that's piling up in your head. Let's refresh our memories.

The book looks something like this:

Series: The African Trilogy #1

Publication Date: September 1, 1994

Genre: African Classic

Page Count: 209

THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. 

The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within.

Oh yeah right, that one!

The Content of Book Reviews: Reading Experience v.s. Literary Analysis

You read book reviews right? You might also write them as well, but why? Over the time I have had to contemplate ways to improve my book reviews and my blog in general, I came across an interesting question that I thought would make for a great discussion.

The heart of this question deals with the purpose of book reviews or what a reader is to gain from reading book reviews. Of course, this question can be greatly expanded, and there are many common as well as unique reasons why we read or listen to book reviews. Therefore, discussing this matter on its own would be substantially complex and lengthy, so we shall save this discussion for a later date when more time is involved. Instead, we will focus rather on one of the topics numerous subquestions: What aspect of the book do we review?

This question in itself is also quite vague and can probably be taken many different ways, but I have attempted to simplify its answer into two responses. The first being a literary analysis and the second being the reading experience.