Who is your book boyfriend?

I saw this posted on Facebook and I thought it might be fun for my readers to do. 

My book boyfriend's name is "Cash 'The Brother's Best Friend' Matteo."

Note: I didn't create this image. It came from Tijan's Books. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Buzz Kill

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, what's really got my pages in a twist is...

Buzz Kill

Beth Fantaskey

Publication Date: May 6, 2014

Hardcover, 368 pages, HMH Books

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Amazon | Goodreads

In this fresh and funny teen mystery, seventeen-year-old Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Albright, to try to find out who murdered Coach Killdare.

Putting the dead in deadline
To Bee or not to Bee? When the widely disliked Honeywell Stingers football coach is found murdered, 17-year-old Millie is determined to investigate. She is chasing a lead for the school newspaper - and looking to clear her father, the assistant coach, and prime suspect.

Millie's partner is gorgeous, smart-and keeping secrets
Millie joins forces with her mysterious classmate Chase who seems to want to help her even while covering up secrets of his own.

She's starting to get a reputation…without any of the benefits.
Drama-and bodies-pile up around Millie and she chases clues, snuggles Baxter the so-ugly-he's-adorable bassett hound, and storms out of the world's most awkward school dance/memorial mash-up. At least she gets to eat a lot of pie.

My Thoughts

I loved Fantaskey's Jessica books, as well as Jekel Loves Hyde, so I'm stoked to get to read another one of her works.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Fire & Flood

Victoria Scott

(Fire & Flood #1)

Publication Date: February 25, 2014

Hardcover, 320 pages, Scholastic Press

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Amazon | Goodreads

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

My Review 

I wasn't too enthused about this book in its beginning. It seemed like it was just a voluntary Hunger Games with some minor twists. But, as the story went on, I felt like the plotline became more unique.

Tella was an odd character. At times she would be random and funny - which kind of reminded me of myself - but then she would be serious and depressing. I understand her need to have some emotional downs, however those ups were weird. At one point she just randomly starts doing a dance. To me it seemed like a crazy scene, almost like Scott just wanted Tella to be awkward in an epically strange way. Guy, the love interest, is pretty darned hott. I really enjoyed his character and I wish Scott would have written more on his background. What I didn't like though, was Tella and Guy's relationship. I just didn't get how Guy would be attracted to Tella. That sounds really bad... I just wasn't sold on their reasons for being together.

The side characters, Harper, Caroline and Ransom and Levi, were pretty cool. Harper was bada$$, and she scared me a little. Twins Ransom and Levi were funny and adorable, while Caroline was kind of interesting, and that's all I'm gonna say. The Pandora aspect was weird at first with the creepy eggs, once they hatched though, I just wanted one for myself. Gimme!

The reason the Brimstone Bleed is going on is another element that I wasn't sold on. I felt like Scott had to find a way to make all of this happen, so she just pulled a random what-if story out of nowhere. The Brimstone Bleed itself is strange, in a good way. There's four environments each contestant must race in, although we're only introduced to two in this book - jungle and desert. The jungle part reminded me too much of Catching Fire, but the desert habitat made everything better.  That's where things took a turn for the better and I started enjoying myself waaay more.

This book wasn't my favorite, but I did enjoy it. It just took some perseverance and an ability to separate book-to-book similarities.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Review: The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Shadow Throne

Jennifer A. Nielsen

(The Ascendance Trilogy #3)

Publication Date: February 25, 2014

Hardcover, 336 pages, Scholastic Press

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult/Middle Grade

Amazon | Goodreads

 One war.
Too many deadly battles.
Can a king save his kingdom, when his own survival seems unlikely?

War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has kidnapped Imogen in a plot to bring Carthya to its knees, Jaron knows it is up to him to embark on a daring rescue mission. But everything that can go wrong does.

His friends are flung far and wide across Carthya and its neighbouring lands. In a last-ditch effort to stave off what looks to be a devastating loss for the kingdom, Jaron undertakes what may be his last journey to save everything and everyone he loves. But even with his lightning-quick wit, Jaron cannot forestall the terrible danger that descends on him and his country. Along the way, will he lose what matters most? And in the end, who will sit on Carthya's throne?

My Review

I kind of don't know what happened to me. I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous installments. Although Jaron was still the same witty, lucky and sly character that he was when I was first introduced to this trilogy, something just felt off about this book... I think I went into The Shadow Throne with too many expectations. After all, The Runaway King had been in my top 13 favorite books of 2013 list. 

We're thrown immediately into the thick of things when this story starts. That's one of the aspects that I love about this series, there's never really a down moment. Even when characters are debating or angsting, they're still seemingly in motion. That being said, there were still a few  moments that slowed everything down a wee bit too much. But those were rare.

Jaron didn't change for me. His character stayed the same, and my level of love for did too. The other characters in the story needed to up their ante, however. Roden was not as prominent as he was initially in the storyline of the books, and I kind of missed him, along with Tobias. Princess Amarinda somehow managed to get on my nerves in this book when I'd previously been fine with her character. I'm not even sure I can give a reason as to why I felt this way. Maybe it was because she made decisions and all I wanted to do was yell at her for it? And I can't even talk about Immogen. Darn you, Immogen!

The plot of this book seemed to jump a lot more than the first two books. We'd be in Avenia one second and then Carthya the next. I thought that it usually took weeks for people to travel from country to country on horseback, instead of mere hours? But what do I know? Also, Jaron's actions just felt a little too lucky at times. He was supposed to be injured during a lot of the book, but man, he could still move like he was professional fighter, runner and horseback rider, combined.

All in all, this book did frustrate me. I was expecting more and, unfortunately, I didn't get it. Does that mean that I'm going to stop recommending these books to people? Heck no! The False Prince will always have a place in my heart.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. This in no way altered my opinion/review.