Waiting on Wednesday

*hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine*
Hardcover, 304 pagesExpected publication: September 25th 2012 by Harlequin Teen
She won’t resist until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.
Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
Her father was right. The monsters are real….
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.I'd tell my sister no.I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.I'd tell them I love them.I wish... Yeah, I wish.

So that sounds AWESOME. Zombies, Alice, a bad boy? Heck. Yes. I am all in. I can't wait for this book and the cover is absolutely gorgeous! I love it! And, well if that wasn't enough to convince you that you also should be waiting for this book...CHECK IT OUT:

   

That little back snippet just has me drooling for this book! Let me know if you agree in the comments and don't forget to leave your links so I can check out what you are waiting for too :)

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Hardcover, 487 pages                                             Published May 3rd 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books    Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger.

What if you had to choose what the most important aspect of life was? Would you choose peacefulness, honesty, bravery, selflessness, or intelligence? How do you even decide this when all of these are qualities everyone should have at least some of?

Beatrice, or Tris, has to decide to stay with her family and be something she's not or leave them for what she believes. Tris is one of the bravest characters I have ever read about. She is bad ass and is not afraid to stand up for the people she cares about, which also makes her a bit selfless at times. Throughout the book you see her develop from a small girl who doesn't know what she needs to do, to a young woman who follows what she believes and doesn't stop along the way to ask questions. Then there's Four. What can I say about him? He is just a great character. He is mysterious about so many things in his life and lets few people in. Four has his own opinions but doesn't speak them too often and is more reserved than Tris. He thinks things through where she acts on impulse (which I guess would make them a great couple ;D ). At first I wasn't too attached but by the end of the book I was completely emotionally invested in his character.

Divergent is one of those books that you will pick up to read for a few chapters and you end up sitting there for hours. The book is quick paced from the start with the initiation process all through the end of the book. The action doesn't lag and you just have to keep going to find out what comes next. The world building is great. There is so much detail put into this world, from the trains and the schedule, to the different sections of the city. Each section is so different but it is so well developed. If you are a true dystopian fan I highly recommend this book. There is so much going on that even though the book is close to 500 pages you won't even notice. And Insurgent is coming out May 1st so you'll want to read this one soon if you haven't read it yet.

Back to Normal and A Little About Me

Hey guys! I know I was very absent last week. I'm so sorry about that but school has me a bit stress and finals are this month so I have papers to write and lots to study for. The blog should be up and normal tomorrow though. But I thought that today I would share a little bit about me. Something else I love in life besides books :)

So aside from books I really love music and it's a huge part of my life. During finals I usually listen to one particular artist all week (I guess as a routine to get ready for my tests) so I've been really into One Direction (yupp not even going to lie that I'm loving them right now). The song I've been listening to most is One Thing. This is their performance below.



Do you guys recommend any songs for my Finals Playlist? I listen to almost any type of music. Also, let me know what song you guys have been listening to on repeat! I would love to know. And if any of you are going through finals soon, GOOD LUCK or better yet...

Waiting on Wednesday

Hardcover, 356 pages

Expected publication: October 23rd 2012 by Harcourt Children's Books

There’s none so blind as they that won’t see. Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer. This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine*

I am a SUCKER for murder mysteries. If a book even has mention of one I'm like, "where do I sign up?" So this book is definitely on my wishlist as of the moment I read the summary. Plus, look at that cover! It is gorgeous. I love the vulnerable look it gives with the smeared makeup. I also really love the font and the fact that the title is in the eye. It really draws you in.
What do you guys think? Will you be adding it to your tbr list? What do you think of the cover? Leave links to your Waiting on Wednesday in the comments! :)

March Wrap Up/April TBR

This is what I am hoping to get through in the month of April. These are books I have been wanting to get to but haven't yet been able to. If you guys want to know what I read last month you can go here. Although I have finals this month I am hoping I will be able to read most of these.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins
The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate
A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Books I want to finish from last month:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Added throughout the month:
Looking for Alaska by John Green

Have any of you read any of these books? What did you think about them? Do you guys want to see reviews for any of these in particular? Let me know below :)

Review: The Changelings by Elle Casey

 Jayne Sparks, a potty-mouthed, rebellious seventeen-year-old and her best friend, shy and bookish Tony Green, have a pretty typical high school existence, until several seemingly unrelated incidents converge, causing a cascade of events that change their lives forever. Jayne and Tony, together with a group of runaway teens, are hijacked and sent into a forest, where nothing and no one are as they seem. Who will emerge triumphant? And what will they be when they do? 

The premise of this book really got me interested in where the story would go. When Jayne, her best friend Tony and an array of misfit teens are thrown into the forest and told to survive they could never have been prepared for what they would have to endure. The teens are first taken to a secret location for a "test" and before long things start looking stranger and stranger, especially after they are given weapons and told "there are no rules here, there are no laws".

Jayne is a fantastic main character. Just being in her head makes the book a great read. She is kick ass, sarcastic and hilarious. With the things she says and her snarky attitude the other characters either take a quick liking to her, like Tony, Spike and even Chase, or they hate her guts, like Samantha. Tony, also known as Tones Tones is her best friend. I really liked the way they became friends. There wasn't a perfect connection but it somehow worked out and we get the best of friends. Tony would do anything for Jayne and this is constantly shown throughout the book. The reader can definitely tell that Jayne is the person Tony cares for the most. The other teens all have their own personalities and they are all very different from each other. One of the other teens, Spike quickly turned into one of my favorite secondary characters. He is charming and charismatic and in Jayne's words, "has a great smile". But I feel like Chase had this charming, quite personality that just made me love him.

Most of the adults are unnerving and even a bit disturbing. Jayne's family is split and a mess and Tony's isn't much better. Then the adults running the tests are a bit like mad scientists. There is no real regard for the human life. The reader can pick up the real lack of adult supervision but in the end everything is suddenly revealed and it was something I was not expecting.

The story itself was a bit strange at the start but quickly picked up and turned into an action packed book. There was so much going on, from fantastical creatures, to amazing fighting scenes, to intense topics and somehow a bit of romance too all weaved together to create this great read. It will definitely be a book you will want to pick up soon.

5/5 stars