BOOK REVIEW: Atlantia by Ally Condie

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first cracked open Atlantia. Condie is one of those authors that I remain on the fence about; although I thoroughly enjoyed Matched, the next two books were a bit dry. 
And, despite the fact that Atlantia is about an underwater city, I also found it to be a bit dry. 

Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

This book is nothing like I thought it would be. The summary suggests that it’s about two disappearances, two missing girls. The entire book, I kept thinking… one of the sisters is going to go missing, and the other sister will embark on a quest to find her. That’s the only way the summary made sense to me.

Apparently not, because none of that happened.

BOOK REVIEW: The Fill In Boyfriend by Kasie West

The Fill In Boyfriend

Kasie West is my favorite contemporary romance author. Her stories never fail to make me laugh and tug at my heartstrings. The wonderful thing about her stories is that they always have a second layer- the entire purpose of the story is never the element of romance itself. Her stories are family oriented and have strong underlying messages of life, self-acceptance, and love. In The Distance Between Us, (my personal favorite) Caymen questions the absence of her father in her life and how she can continue to support her mother. In On The Fence, Charlie struggles to find her femininity in a house with only brothers and her father.

The Fill-In Boyfriend is similar to all of West’s previous stories in that it also contains another layer of solemness that adds a serious tone to the story. On the surface, the story is light and fluffy. Gia, the main character, is dumped by her boyfriend, Bradley, only a few minutes before prom begins.

Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

As I was pacing back and forth between the shelves of my school library, a title caught my eye. I’d seen advertisements of its cover plastered on bookstore windows and even in Walmart. It had been praised by several critics as one of the best Young Adult books of all time, yet I still had not read it. So, out of simple curiosity, I picked it up and started reading.

I wish I could say that I went home and fell in love with this book.  I wish I could say that I immersed myself into the pages and wasn’t able to put it down. I wish I could say that I didn’t force myself to finish it simply to write this review.

I wish I could, but I can’t.

Eleanor and Park was not the book for me.

The Sisterhood of The World Bloggers Award

 Guys!!! I got nominated for an AWARD!!! The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award!!! I was nominated by the lovely Shikha, Leah, and Nina over at The Overflowing Shelf. THANK YOU!!!!! 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Marissa Meyer

I am excited for this post the very most, because Marissa is one of the best and most talented authors that I know. 4. Besides Cress, Marissa has also written Cinder, Scarlet,  The Queen’s Army, and Glitches.

Fun Facts:

Family/Pets: I have a husband, Jesse, and three cats: Callie Jo, Blackie, and Stormus Enormous.

Where you live: Tacoma, WA, USA, in the house Jesse built (literally)

3-4 Hobbies or things you do in your spare time: Eat, cook so I can eat, go antique shopping, and I pretty much enjoy any sort of live entertainment (concerts, musicals, stand-up comedy, etc.)

Favorite ice-cream flavor: Chocolate chip cookie dough

Childhood dream job: Writer!! Though I also went through a stint where I wanted to be a fashion designer.

Favorite movie: I don't know that I have one... Pride and Prejudice, maybe?

Favorite scent: Fresh-baked cookies.

Interview:

How did your idea for Cinder come to you? What inspired you, if anything?

It began when I entered a writing contest in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories. My two prompts: set it in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of Puss in Boots and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of sci-fi fairy tales! A couple months after that I was drifting off to sleep when the lightning bolt struck: Cinderella… as a cyborg! I crawled out of bed and spent about an hour brainstorming and jotting notes. Thus, The Lunar Chronicles was born.

What did you want to be when you were a kid growing up?

A writer! Always a writer. Though I also went through periods where I wanted to be a Broadway actress (before I realized that I can't sing) or a fashion designer (before I realized that would require learning how to sew, which seemed like a drag).

Did you plan for the Lunar Chronicles to be a dystopian fairytale? Were they originally supposed to just be a fairytale? Just dystopia?

The initial concept I had was to write futuristic retellings of fairy tales - so I knew I wanted to give science-fiction twists to some of these classic stories. I had that idea in mind even before I knew which fairy tales I was going to retell! But I don't really think of them as "dystopian." With the exception of the plague and an impending war, the world that Cinder lives in isn't half-bad. It's obviously not perfect, but I think 126 years of world peace is something for Earth to be proud of.

Do you have any future writing plans?

Many! I hope the Chronicles are just the start of a long writing career. Right now I have one confirmed book that will follow this series: HEARTLESS, a prequel to Alice in Wonderland focused on the Queen of Hearts. I'm very excited about it!

Who is one of your favorite characters in the Lunar Chronicles?

I honestly adore all of my characters - even the evil ones! - but my favorites to write are Iko and Thorne. It's the funny characters that excite me the most, because I feel like they tend to write themselves, and I'm never quite sure what crazy thing they'll say or do next. It's so much fun to put them in a chapter and see what happens.

Was Cinder always the lost princess, or did you decide that ending later?

When I first outlined the series, I left it fairly open - it was possible that it could be Cinder, Scarlet, or Cress. But by the time I'd finished the first draft of Cinder, I was pretty sure it was her, and DEFINITELY sure by the time I finished the second draft.

What was your favorite scene to write in the series?

My favorite scene actually takes place in Book 4: WINTER, so I obviously can't tell you much about it. But I've had the idea from really early on, and I can see this scene so clearly in my head. A lot of chapters end up having a movie-like feel to them in my head, but this one really felt like watching a movie when I wrote it. I only hope my writing can do it justice so the readers experience it the same way!

Did you have to delete any scenes? What were some alternative character names?

Ha! I have entirely deleted DRAFTS! Two major characters have changed their names. Captain Carswell Thorne was originally Alexander Woods (but Woods and Wolf were too similar and I kept getting them mixed up), and Princess Winter was originally Princess Ebony (but that was before I realized she was black, at which point the name Ebony just seemed like a cliche). Oh, and when I was naming Cress, I spent about twenty minutes wanting to call her Arugula, lol.

Hey Guys!!

I know that I've really sucked at posting in the last few months... this summer has been very busy.. I've been out camping a lot and haven't had any wifi in order to post. Now that I'm finally home, I thought I would post a few things within the next few days!! Here are the books coming out in July and August!!

BOOK REVIEW: The Heir

Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you something.
I have a rule for authors that none of them obviously follow, since... none of them probably know me. But this rule is-
If you keep continuing a series that you already said was finished, the rest of the books are going to suck.
After reading The Heir, I still stand by my rule. However, I am willing to make a few exceptions. There were some parts that, in fact, sucked, and some that did not suck. Here is a list: 

Things that Sucked

Eadlyn.  

When reading some other reviews on Goodreads prior to picking up this book, I found that Eadlyn, the main character, was receiving a lot of hate. However, when I first started reading it, I really, really admired her. Almost more than I admired America. (Let's be honest, most times America got on my nerves. I basically only read The One so I could gobble up the parts with Maxon.) America was okay, she was tolerable. But she was so indecisive about everything that it drove me CRAZY. Eadlyn knew what she wanted, and she was determined to get it by herself. Finally! My inside happiness screamed, Some girl power!!! She had spunk and bravery and I thought everything was going well.

Until things started sucking. There are many problems with Eadlyn, mostly:

Books Coming Out This Month

End of Days by Susan Ee
Release Date: May 12th 

End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee’s bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy.

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly , Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

The Heir {Fanfiction Part 1}

The Heir

A Fanfiction by Sarah Calvert

Disclaimer: This is merely a fan fiction. All rights to the Selection series go to Kiera Cass. Please note that I was not aware of the name of the boy she will fall for so I MADE ONE UP. I have no clue how The Heir will go whatsoever and this is from my own crazy brain. Thank you and please enjoy the story :) 

Part Three of The One Fanfiction

Hey guys!! As promised, here is the third and final part to The One Fanfiction [original series by Kiera Cass.] I do not own any of the copyrights to the Selection Series, all of the rights go to Kiera Cass. If you have not read the at least the first two books, please, do NOT read my Fanfictions.  *** IF YOU REPOST, PLEASE GIVE ME CREDIT. ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE IS CONSIDERED PLAGIARISM. Thank you. Don't miss out on my fan fiction for The Heir, coming out on April 23rd!

Also, if you missed out on Part One and Part Two:

Part One

Part Two

Enjoy!

XOXO

Sarah

Part Three

The first thing I think after the gunshot is how odd Maxon sounds. His screams sound like a tortured animal, like someone ripped his heart out and crushed it.

The second thing I find odd is the fact that I don’t feel any pain. None at all, not even pain where blood should be blossoming from my chest. I don’t feel like I am slipping into an abyss of endless darkness, either.

That’s when I feel arms engulf me, holding me as delicately as glass. I pry open my eyes to see Maxon above me, his eyes wide and rimmed with red. Yet he doesn’t look worried. He does not call for help. “America, darling. You aren’t dying. He didn’t shoot you. He didn’t shoot you,” he insists.

That’s when I realize that it is not his body shaking, but mine. I feel extremely cold, with drops of sweat dripping down my forehead. I try to open my mouth to reply, but it feels like it has been glued shut.

“He didn’t shoot you, America. You’re fine. You’re alive.”

Then, another face appears above me, next to Maxon’s. Their expression is a mix of relief and amusement.

Aspen.

“Is he dead?” Maxon asks him.

“Yeah,” Aspen replies, crouching down next to me. “Are you alright, Mer? You look a little pale.”

Is he dead? The words echo in my thoughts and finally realization comes to me. The gunshot was not from the rebel. It was from Aspen.

Aspen shot the rebel.

Aspen saved my life.

Maxon seems to realize this fact the same moment that I do. “Thank you,” he tells him, turning his head so they are looking eye to eye. “I thought I hated you after I realized you were with her, but now I am forever in your debt. You saved the only thing in the world that matters to me. I can see now how you were able to steal her heart.”

“Her heart has been stolen,” Aspen agrees. “But I am not the thief.” Then he leans down and kisses me on the forehead. “I love you, Mer. But I can see the truth now. And it’s okay,” he whispers in my ear.

I kiss his cheek, softly. He stands and sends me a grin that once made my heart fly. Now, it simply makes it smile. “I need to go, Your Highness,” he says, turning to Maxon. “You will be safe now.” Maxon nods, giving him permission to leave.

He does, and the door closes quietly behind him, leaving me alone with Maxon.

He is the first to speak. “Are you alright? I was certain you were just going into shock, but you look so pale…”

“Yes.” My voice comes out hoarse, and I clear my throat. “I’m fine, thank you.”

There is silence for a few moments, apart from the quiet, ragged breathing coming from his chest. Then he finds his voice again. “I thought I’d lost you,” he chokes out, and I look up to see that his eyes are filling with tears. “When I heard the gunshot, I assumed that… I thought..” he swallows, unable to finish his sentence. Some of his tears fall onto my own cheeks, and his embrace around me tightens. “You never know how much you love someone until you lose them,” he whispers. “I love you, America. If I ever lost you again… there are no words to describe the agonies of a breaking heart.”

“Maxon,” I whisper, stroking his face, but he shakes his head, interrupting me.

“I love you. I do not deserve to love you. A simple caste, a simple title, a simple ranking, can not define the value of a human soul. And yours is much lovelier than mine. You have an exquisitely beautiful soul, and there is nothing more that I would want than for our souls to be joined forever, so I never have to lose you again without losing myself. America Singer, will you marry me?”

The words are barely out of his mouth before I’m kissing him. Our mouths blend together, two souls that will never again be separated. I kiss him more tenderly, more passionately, than any person has ever been kissed. Our tears mix, becoming one wave of water as I fix him, and he fixes me.

The truth is that someone is never made fully whole until they finally find the person who fills in the holes.

Maxon is fixing me, mending me, and sewing me back together, one kiss at a time. And though a word is never uttered, it passes through us: through his lips, through mine, through the scars on his back and the scars on my heart, through both of our tears, through his hands around me and through my hands in his hair.

One word, over and over, never to be erased.

Yes.

Books Coming Out In April

Sorry that this is a little bit late. We still have half of the month left, right? Enjoy!

An Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 
Release Date: April 28th 

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself. 

Interview With Heather Dixon

Today I interviewed one of my favorite authors of all time, Heather Dixon. I find it sad that she doesn't have all the fame she deserves. I absolutely adored her book, Entwined. (You guys must have liked the review, it is the second most popular review on this blog!) Anyway, check out the interview and watch the trailer for her new book, Illusionarium, out this May!

NOTE: She is extremely gorgeous and could cause fainting, squealing, evil pangs of jealousy, shattered mirrors, crying, or obsessed staring at this screen for several hours. 

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN GREEN!!!

GUYS GUYS GUYS

So you may have heard about the little contest that Penguin was holding a few months ago that bloggers could enter for a chance to win a short little interview with JOHN GREEN.

So I entered, and one day I get this email

AND
I

FOUND

THAT
I

WON

AN

INTERVIEW

WITH

JOHN

GREEN!!!

Versatile Blog Award!!!

Hey guys! So I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Maureen @ Diaries of A Book Lover (THANK YOU, sorry it took so long!!) Here are the rules of nomination:

The Rules:

This is what must happen now:

1. Nominate other bloggers relatively new to blogging.

2. Let the bloggers know that you've nominated them.

3. Share 10 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

BLOG ANNIVERSARY

HEY….

SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING HERE

Day Four: BOOK REVIEW: All The Bright Places

All The Bright Places

I don’t even know how to start this review, because I know whatever I say will not possibly be worthy of the book itself. This book… it’s one of those books that changes your outlook on life, how you see the world. It breaks my heart to see one star reviews on Goodreads, because I don’t think some readers get what this book is actually about. This isn’t just a story, it’s not just words on a page. So many people have the same experiences as Violet and Finch in their day to day lives, and they have to deal with that pain for the rest of their lives. This, if you read my interview with the author, Jennifer Niven, you would already know that she has inserted some of her personal experiences and feelings into this book. These are real feelings, and this is a real story, a story that so many experience every day.

Sometimes there’s beauty in the tough words—it’s all in how you read them.

This book is about a boy named Theodore Finch and a girl named Violet Markey, both who come from different backgrounds but have one thing in common- pain. Theodore is an outcast at school that gets made fun of and called a freak. His home life is especially difficult since his father left for a better life and a new family. He goes from day to day, trying to keep himself Awake instead of Asleep, a dark place where he sinks into an abyss of sadness and despair.

We are all alone, trapped in these bodies and our own minds, and whatever company we have in this life is only fleeting and superficial.

Violet, on the other hand, is popular and liked by many people. She was generally happy with her life, with plenty of friends, until the accident. About a year before the story takes place, she is in a car accident with her sister, who does not survive. Violet is supposed to carry on without her best friend, having the guilt that it was all her fault on top of everything else- the pain, the sadness, and the longing to have her sister back.

What if life could be this way? Only the happy parts, none of the terrible, not even the mildly unpleasant. What if we could just cut out the bad and keep the good?

They both meet on the edge of the end of their lives- literally. Finch is up there because he has been carefully contemplating what would be the best way for all of it to end, and Violet is simply there on a rash decision to end her pain. Call it a coincidence or fate, they find each other on the top of a ledge, and as a result, both of them are saved.

And within that moment, Violet Markey, the sister who survived, and Theodore Finch, the freak, bond over something special. Their story starts on that ledge. Soon, over a school project, a few odd sight seeing trips, and a few messages through a Facebook page, they both begin to feel something deeper.

This is not a book that is simply about love- it is about pain, and heartache, and being broken and hopeless as well as loving someone who is broken and hopeless and how the two can combine to create something lovely. This review did not do this story justice, because there are some feelings that are so important- so personal, that simply words will not even describe them.

I loved this book. Some people hated it and said that it was just another love story of two tragic backgrounds, and maybe it was for them. But do you know what it feels like when a book clicks with you? When you feel like some parts of it were written just for you to read over and over again? Because this book changes you as a person? Because the words are things that you have been saying in your mind for years?

That book for me was All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.

Day 3: Interview With Jennifer Niven!

Introduction:

The beautiful lady you see to your bottom right is the author I will be interviewing today. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, she has written one of my top favorite books of all time, and one that I will be recommending to every single soul on the face of this Earth forever and ever. [My review is coming tomorrow, for those of you who are utterly confused.] Although she has written other novels, the one we are particularly interested in today is entitled All The Bright Places, a story of two teens who find one another at one of the oddest places to say hello, who start to find themselves in the process of finding each other. None of these questions should have any spoilers, [I think] so please go ahead and enjoy. Thank you, Jennifer, for stopping by today!

The Basics:

Favorite Song: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA or any One Direction song, especially “One Thing.”

Favorite Ice cream Flavor:  Cookie dough

Ideal Super Power: I'd love to be able to move things with my mind, but teleporting would be really, really cool too.

Favorite Quote: Is it awful to pick one from my own book? Because I love "You are all the colors in one, at full brightness." It's true of everyone, and we all need to remember that.

The Interview:

Oscar Wilde once said, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most exist, that’s all.” At the beginning of the book, Violet and Finch think they have little to live for, and are simply existing. How do you think, during the duration of All The Bright Places, that they help each other find a reason to live instead of simply exist? How do you think they change throughout the beginning until the end?

Finch tells Violet the reason he wanted to work with her on their class project is because she smiled at him, but it’s so much more than that. Violet is the first person who truly sees Finch. As he says, she’s able to look past everything else and love him anyway so that, for the first time, he feels like “A boy who belongs—here in this world, here in his own skin. He is exactly who I want to be… The boy Violet Markey loves.” As for Violet, by the time she meets Finch, she has closed herself away from everyone and everything as she struggles in the wake of her sister’s death. But Finch gets her back on the camel, so to speak, by challenging her, by not coddling her like her teachers and her parents and her friends have done, by forcing her to engage with life, and in doing so he teaches her to see the people and places around her in new ways. Together they learn the importance of making it lovely and leaving something behind. They learn firsthand about acceptance in spite of everything, and they realize that you can be your own bright place in the world.

In All The Bright Places, Violet and Finch both quote various works of literature, (especially Violet) from the classics to the infamous Dr. Seuss. What is a quote from a piece of literature that you’ve always liked?

There are too many to choose from, but here is one I love from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  I also love: “She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.” (From Little Women.)

Finch has a wall full of post it notes with random words that he rearranges into lines or song lyrics. Choose at least fifteen different words and list them. If you can, try to rearrange them into a line of a song or poem.

Lovely

Bright

Home

Possibility

Endless

Life

Forever

Together

Two

Choose

Words

Horizon

Celebration

Forgiveness

Resilient

Memory

Hope

Believe

And my poem:

“Horizon”

Believe life forever,

Two together,

Choose Words:

Celebration,

Forgiveness,

Hope.

Resilient home,

Lovely memory,

Endless bright possibility.

In your Author’s note, you mentioned that some of the events that happened in All The Bright Places are based on some experiences in your own life. To all our readers out there who might think that they are worthless and alone, and like nobody loves them, please try to explain how it feels to be the one left behind, how it truly feels to lose someone you love, and how much they really have an impact on your life.

Years ago, I knew and loved a boy, and that boy was bipolar. I witnessed up-close the highs and lows, the Awake and the Asleep, and I saw his daily struggle with the world and with himself. Like Violet, I was forever changed when I lost this boy. It took me years to get past it, to be able to think about him or drive down the street where he lived (and where I found him). It took me years to open up, to forgive myself for not seeing what he didn’t want me to see, for not saving him. As Emily Brontë writes in Wuthering Heights, “I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” He broke my heart by dying. I still miss him. I wish he were here. I still have nightmares about his death. It is the worst kind of loss because he mattered. He was loved. There was nothing worthless about him. I wish he’d believed that. I want readers to believe that about themselves. You matter. You are loved. You aren’t worthless. You are the only you there will ever be in this world, and not only are you a bright place to someone, you’ll be a bright place to many more in the years ahead.  

Was it ever difficult to write from Finch’s point of view, especially when he was having a particularly depressing time? How did you make these emotions seem real?

Overall, I actually found Finch’s POV easier to write than Violet’s. His voice was always stronger to me, although it was definitely challenging to write his unraveling, simply because it was so personal. A young writer asked me recently, “How did you write All the Bright Places without crying over it?” The answer is that I did cry while writing it, but I also knew that it was okay to cry because that meant I was tapping into all of the emotion that was going to help me write what I needed to write. In the end, I really just wrote the story I knew, based on the boy I loved.

What is the message you hope will touch the hearts of your readers/ the message you hoped to give when you finished writing this book? Do you have a message you would like to leave with us or any final thoughts?  

One reader wrote to tell me that as soon as she read the book, she ran downstairs and hugged her mother. Another reader wrote, “I found after reading this that I wanted to do so much more with my life than just live. This has kick started the bucket list for me.” I hope that the book inspires more of those feelings.  I also hope it inspires us to look deeper at the people and places around us. And I hope it inspires discussions about teen mental health. I want readers to know that they aren’t alone, that help is out there, that it gets better, that high school isn’t forever, and that life is long and vast and full of possibility.