Book Blogger Hop (13) & Follow Friday (5)

It Friday so it means it's time for the Book Blogger Hop and the Follow Friday!

First off, the Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books. It is a way for all the book bloggers out there to get together and and find out about each others' blogs. I've found a lot of great blogs and bloggers through this hop and it's always fun to take part every week.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

HOW DO YOU SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT YOUR BLOG? (E.G. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, BOOK BLOG DIRECTORIES, COMMENTS ON OTHER BLOGS...)

The main way I spread the word about my blog is through Twitter. I can be found on Twitter @emiliebookworld (feel free to follow!). I'm also on Goodreads where I post my reviews but I don't do much advertisement about my blog there. Other than that I can also be found on the YA Book Blog Directory which is a list of all the YA book bloggers out there. Beside that I just comment on different blogs and of course every week I do the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday which always brings a lot of new people to my blog.

The Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View every week. It works a lot like the Book Blogger Hop except that it's on only on Fridays. I haven't been taking part in this hop for as long but I've found a lot of great new blogs through this one too.

UPDATES:

It looks like school has finally started kicking my butt. I have a bunch of assignments that were due this week and a bunch that are due next week before Thanksgiving (the Canadian one). I've still been getting a good amount of reading time in and have reviews coming up every Sunday or Monday depending on the week.

Have a good weekend and happy hopping.

Waiting On Wednesday (9)

It's Wednesday again and that means it's time for another Waiting on Wednesday post. For those of you that don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers share what upcoming releases they are excited to read.

And now, for this week's pick:

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Summary (from The Contemps' website):

Some schools have honor codes. Others have handbooks. Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds. Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way-the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds-a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone-especially yourself-you fight for it.

As you may have guessed, The Mockingbirds is another one of the books for the Contemps Challenge. The story looks really good and, especially with all the controversy of the past week over books with a similar theme, the story deserves to be out there and read. It might be a subject people are uncomfortable with but it won't go away just because of that.

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney will be published by Little, Brown November 2, 2010.

Top Ten Tuesday

I have been thinking about doing Top Ten Tuesday for a while, but the topics each week never really appealed to me...until this week. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's Top Ten has to do with our favorite fictional couples in books. So here is my list, in no particular order.

Clary and Jace from the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

I absolutely love Clary and Jace. They have already gone through so much and they just deserve to actually be together and be happy. But knowing how the books tend to go, Cassandra Clare probably has something in store for them that will make me want to throw my book against the wall...and then continue reading to see if it all gets solved.

Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

So I was Team Peeta the whole way so how Mockingjay ended made me really happy (even if I wasn't completely satisfied with how they got to where they ended up). They just went through so much and to finally see them be happy together just made me really happy.

Rose and Dimitri from the Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I am pretty much in love with Dimitri myself but I'll let Rose have him. I absolutely love this couple. They finally decide to be together and something goes wrong and now I'm just hoping that they will find a way to be together that will bring them back to how they were.

Kelley and Sonny from Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Kelley and Sonny are just amazing. I love how their relationship and really hope everything works out for them, despite some of the things Kelley said to Sonny at the end of Darklight. I just have to wait until December to see if what I want to happen to them ends up happening.

Sam and Grace from Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

I haven't read Linger yet (it's next in my TBR pile) so this is just based on Shiver but I love Sam and Grace. I don't know what happens to them after Shiver but I just hope they are able to stay together.

Harry and Ginny from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Do I even need to explain? It's Harry and Ginny as far as I'm concerned that's explanation enough.

Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I waited for the longest time for this to finally happen and when it did I was the happiest reader on the planet. Beyond that just see the explanation for Harry and Ginny and apply it here too.

Lena and Ethan from Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I love Ethan and Lena. I don't really know why, I just do. I can't wait to see what happens next to them.

Brittany and Alex from Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

This could honestly have been any couple from Simone Elkeles's books. I chose Brittany and Alex because they're the ones that got to me first. I'll be honest I sometimes wished I was Brittany.

Macy and Wes from The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

This could also have been any of Sarah Dessen's couples but Macy and Wes are just special to me and I absolutely love them.

The list could obviously have been a lot longer but these are my Top Ten. I'm sure in about 30 minutes I'll have thought of a bunch of others that could have made the list but these are it for now.

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden

Title: Losing Faith

Author: Denise Jaden

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: September 7, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

When Brie’s sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie’s world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral further off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t  know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don’t line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

I’ll be honest, the main reason I originally picked up Losing Faith by Denise Jaden was because it was part of the Contemps Challenge. That’s not to say that the book didn’t sound interesting from the description, because it totally did and as it turns out the book was actually really good. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the book because I hadn’t looked that much into it and it had only just come out when I began reading it. I’ll admit I was uncertain about the book at first, but as I kept reading I just liked it more and more and by the end I just loved it.

Brie has always been the “bad” sister, what with Faith being all perfect and super involved in church and youth group. Basically, Faith is the perfect daughters all parents dream about having. That is until she dies suddenly Brie finds herself in the position long held by her sister. Brie’s life turns upside down: her parents are a mess, the guy she thought loved her may not be all that into her, and her friends just don’t know how to approach her anymore. Brie finds herself becoming friends with the last people she ever expected to be friends with and the more she looks into it, the more there seems to be something off about the night her sister died.

Brie sort of creeped up on me. I wasn’t sure about her at first but as I was reading, I found myself liking her more and more. It’s really great to see her evolution throughout the book. She went from being a a teenage girl trying to find out where she fit in and ended up being strong and knowing exactly who she was. Even if she wasn’t physically there, it was also great to see Brie’s relationship with Faith changed. Despite Faith being dead, by the end of the book Brie was closer to her sister than ever. Brie was truly great once I got to know her and wished I could have spent more time with her.

Brie’s friends amused me more than anything else. From the start I could pretty much tell that things weren’t going to work out with Dustin and that Amy wouldn’t turn out to be as good a friend as Brie made her sound. But when Tessa and Alis came in, I liked them from the start. Tessa had me laughing many times and shaking my head the rest of the time. The things the girl thought of, just had me completely wondering how she even came up with those ideas. Alis was different, I liked him pretty much right away and that might have had something to do with him being all mysterious at first. But as I found out more about him, I could tell that he was just a good guy trying to do the right thing...and for once I wasn’t totally going for the bad guy.

At first, I wasn’t completely sure about the whole religious aspect of the book but it turned out it didn’t really bother me by the end. It wasn’t really what was important about the story. The focus was on Brie trying to figure out what had happened to Faith and getting to know her better through her death. The way the story was set up, I could see some of the things coming but a lot of it took me by surprise which is what I like books to do.

Losing Faith was a great read and, I’ll be honest, I enjoyed it a lot more than I originally thought I would. It was a great story about love and loss but didn’t fall into all the clichés that are normally associated with those two subjects. Now I can say that I can’t wait for whatever comes next from Denise Jaden.

Book Blogger Hop (12) & Follow Friday (4)

It's Friday which means it's once again time for the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday. First things first, the Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books as a way for book bloggers to get together and visit each other's blogs. I've found a lot of great blogs through the hop and had many new people come see my blog as well.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

WHEN YOU WRITE REVIEWS, DO YOU WRITE THEM AS YOU ARE READING OR DO YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THE ENTIRE BOOK?

I don't think I've ever written a review when I wasn't done reading the book the review was for. I always right my reviews once I'm finished reading a book because that way I've seen the whole picture and I have my mind made up. If I were to write a review while still reading, I might not have the same opinion on the book as when I'm finished reading it, just because there is always some plot twist that changes everything. At least that's how it works for me.

Like I said, Friday also means it's time for the Follow Friday. Like the hop, Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee's view. I haven't been participating in this meme as long as I have the Book Blogger Hop but I've met lots of wonderful people through this weekly hop as well.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

WHAT IS YOUR HIGH FASHION BOOK? - TRANSLATION - BEST BOOK COVER EVER!

This is honestly kind of difficult to answer. I have to admit I often judge books by their covers but I don't think I've ever picked a favorite or best ever. There are plenty out there that I really like but I just don't know which to choose! If I really have to, I would say that my absolute favorite covers are for Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments books and Clockwork Angel. I don't really know why, there is just something about them that I love.

UPDATES

So far school isn't kicking my butt, but then again I've only had two full weeks of classes. I actually was able to do quite a bit of reading this week so I have reviews coming up but I'll still only post one per week that way they will last longer. So you can expect a review of Losing Faith by Denise Jaden and The DUFF by Kody Keplinger coming soon. Both were really great books and everyone should really go and read them.

Enjoy your weekends!

Waiting On Wednesday (8)

It's Wednesday again and that means another Waiting on Wednesday post. For those who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Jill of Breaking theSpine where we all share what upcoming book releases we are excited to get out hands on.

My pick for this week is:

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

There has yet to be a summary released for this book but I am still very excited about it. I read The Iron King a couple weeks back and absolutely loved it. The next book, The Iron Daughter, is next up on my pile of books to read and I'm really looking forward to diving back into the world Julie Kagawa has created.

Even though no summary has been released you can go to Julie Kagawa's blog and every Tuesday she posts a new teaser from the book. She has posted three so far and they only make me that much more excited to read the book.

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa will be published by Harlequin Teen in February 2011.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Title: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Release Date: August 31, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Magic is more dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosse the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks, and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, who are members of a secret organization called the Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

I’ll say this now, and I’ll probably say this again in this review but, I love Cassandra Clare and the stories she writes. They are simply amazing and quite addicting. Every time I pick up one of her books I wanted to do nothing else then just sit there with it and read it until I’ve gone through it all, and even then I want more. The same thing happened with Clockwork Angel. Even before I started reading I knew I would love it just because of how much I had loved the three books of The Mortal Instruments series. To put it simply, Cassandra Clare and her story most definitely did not disappoint.

All Tessa Gray wanted to do was go to England so she could be reunited with her brother, the only family she had left. But when she gets there, things definitely don’t turn out the way she expects them to. After having been held captive for weeks by two women calling themselves the Dark Sisters, Tessa is rescued by London’s Shadowhunters and taken in at the Institute. From there, things don’t really get easier for Tessa. She still has no idea where her brother is or what is happening to her. With the help of new friends Tessa will learn that there are some things in life that are a lot more difficult and dangerous than they appear, like magic...and love.

There are so many good things to say about Clockwork Angel that I don’t even know where to start. Cassandra Clare has always, in my opinion, had an amazing story-telling ability. Every time I read one of her books I am transported to a whole new world. I feel like I can see and live everything the characters go through. And every time I never want to leave, that’s how good the world Clare creates are. There is something almost magical about her writing that captures you and keeps you prisoner until the story is over. And if you’re like me, you just want to stay there even when the story is over.

Clare also creates these amazing characters. I loved Tessa from the start. Even though she wasn’t always at her best, she almost always put others before her which is something I can’t help but admire. She was always blaming herself for things that weren’t her fault but that just shows how much she cared about the others around her. I especially loved to see how she grew throughout the story. At the beginning she appeared as a scared little girl, but by the end she would hold her ground and I was proud of her for it. I didn’t expect she would become someone this strong and I loved her for growing so much.

Will and Jem. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure yet if I’m Team Will or Team Jem. I loved both boys so much. Sure, Will would often get on my nerves but then there would be moments where he was the most caring and compassionate person and I just couldn’t help but love that about him. It’s easy to see he’s afraid of opening up but he would just gain so much if he did. I have big hopes for Will in the future, mostly that he’ll learn to open up and not be scared to get close to people. Jem was just so caring and gentle in everything he did, it was so hard to picture him being a Shadowhunter and seeing him in the middle of battle. It was almost like he didn’t belong there. Seeing how much he cared about Tessa and how he was with her sometime made me wish I were Tessa. I honestly loved both boys and if I had to choose I would have a very hard time.

With Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare has once again written a magical story that will transport readers to another time and place whether they want to or not. There’s no use in resisting, this book will take you to places you never imagined were possible

Speak Loudly

As many of you may have heard, there is a recently published article (find the full article here) about certain YA books that is causing quite the uproar. Authors, readers and bloggers have been voicing their opinions on Twitter and their blogs about whether or not Dr. Wesley Scroggins, the author of the article, is right in suggesting the banning of these books. Obviously everyone is quite angry about this and I have to agree with them. People who work to ban books annoy me to no end.

I’ll be honest from the start, I haven’t read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson or Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler but they have both jumped to the top of my TBR pile. Even if I haven’t read either of the books, I know enough about them to know the accusations against them are ridiculous. Who in their right mind would call someone getting raped “soft pornography”? If this is how Scroggins views rape, then he’s the one with the problem. And when he mentions “drunken teens also [ending] up on the beach, where they use their condoms to have sex” in Twenty Boy Summer, I’m not sure where there actually is a problem. Would he rather unsafe and unprotected sex be advertised?

I honestly don’t understand why some people think they can ban books and no one is going to say anything about it. Who do they think they are, believing they know what’s appropriate for some people to read? This man is obviously deluded if he thinks the teens who read these books don’t know about issues of rape, sex, and drunken parties. Even if they didn’t affect me directly I knew all about them. Just because I read about something doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to go out and do what I just read about and I’m sure most people feel the same way. It’s really naive to think that people are that easily influenced.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with books that are more explicit or graphic. If you don’t want you or your kids to read them, then don’t but don’t do anything that’s going to stop others from reading them because that’s just wrong. There are some great books out there that can explain things that parents don’t feel comfortable explaining or just don’t know how to explain. So many times I’ve found answers in books that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Even my parents turned me to books when they weren’t sure how to go about explaining something to me and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. It would be really stupid to stop others from being able to go to books to get their own answers.

At least half, if not more, of the books I’ve read in my life could probably be banned for some reason or another. I also own many books that have been banned in parts of the world. But those are also some of the best books I’ve read in my life. So don’t ban books just because you’re not comfortable with them, you could be preventing someone from reading what could be their favorite book.

Think about this, are you really making people happier when you’re banning books? Or are you just making so many more people angry?

In My Mailbox (1)

For the first time I have decided to participate in the In My Mailbox weekly meme. In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It's a post where we write about the books received during the week either for review, from the bookstore or contests and swaps.

(All links go to the books' Goodreads page)

For Review:

- What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader (Middle Grade) by Adrianne Ambrose + signed stickers

- Haint Misbehavin' (Middle Grade) by Maureen Hardegree

Thank you to Bell Bridge Books for both of these books and to Adrianne Ambrose for the signed stickers!

Won:

The DUFF: Designated, Fat Ugly Friend by Kody Keplinger

Thank you to ReadingTeen and their weekly Second Hand Saturday giveaways!

Bought:

- Losing Faith by Denise Jaden (I've already started reading it and am loving it so far!)

- Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

So that's what I got in my mailbox this week. What about you?

Book Blogger Hop (11) & Follow Friday (3)

It's that time of the week again. Another week has gone by and once again Friday has come, and with Friday comes the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday.

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books. Every week over 300 book bloggers hop from one blog to the other and discover new blogs. Everything I discover wonderful new blogs and meet lots of new bloggers who come by and visit my blog.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

IN HONOR OF BOOK BLOGGER APPRECIATION WEEK, LET'S TAKE THE TIME THIS WEEK TO HONOR OUR FAVORITE BOOK BLOGGERS AND WHY WE LOVE THEM.

This is kind of hard to do, there are so many blogs and bloggers out there that I love to go visit. I don't even know where to begin in choosing which ones to talk about here. I guess I won't limit myself to just one and will mention a few. I only just started blogging a little over two months ago so I don't know that many bloggers personally but there are still some blogs I love. So here goes:

- The Story Siren - basically she is amazing. I love her blog and her reviews are great. If I'm not sure about a book I can almost always go see her blog to get a better idea of if I would like it or not.

- 21 Pages - this blog essentially looks awesome. There are great reviews and posts about books but I first started loving this blog because of its look (yes, I can be that superficial).

- Flippin' Fabulous-A Reader's Record - this blog is actually quite new but already I love going to visit it just to see what is happening over there.

- Every Last Page - Danielle and I essentially started blogging about the same time and I originally found her blog through the hop. Since then I keep going back just to read her thoughts on books.

There are so many other blogs I could have mentioned, but I'll stick to those four for now. If I were to write down all the blogs I love, I probably would still be doing it by this time next week!

Follow Friday is also a weekly meme for book bloggers. This one is hosted by Parajunkee's View each week. I haven't been taking part in this one as long but so far I've met lots of wonderful people through this hop as well.

UPDATES

I have been back in classes for a week now and feel like all I am doing is reading about Communication, Political Science and Political Economy. I try to find as much time as possible to read books I can actually review and so far it doesn't seem too bad, but then again the school year has just started. I will try to post as many reviews as I can but posting more than one a week is going to be tough, some weeks just getting one out there could be difficult.

All this to is say that I may not be posting as much as I did over the summer but I will not stop, just slow down a little bit.

Enjoy your weekends!

Waiting on Wednesday (7)

Once again it's time for my weekly Waiting On Wednesday post. For those who don't know, Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Jill of Breaking the Spine where we all share what upcoming book releases we are excited to get our hands on.

As some of you may have noticed from the last four reviews I have posted, I am now a huge fan of the Vampire Academy series. I have read the first four books and just need to head over to the bookstore to get the fifth. So going with the whole Vampire Academy thing I have going on right now, here is the upcoming release I am really excited for.

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy #6)

From the publisher:

The astonishing final novel in Richelle Mead's epic series.

Murder. Love. Jealousy. And the ultimate sacrifice. Now, with Rose on trial for her life and Lissa first in line for the Royal Throne, nothing will ever be the same between them.

So yeah, I am more than excited for the release of Last Sacrifice and probably will even be more so once I get my hands on and read Spirit Bound.

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead will be published December 7, 2010 by Penguin/RazorBill.