Waiting on Wednesday

Title: The One.

Author: Kiera Cass.

Summary:

"The highly anticipated third book in Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series! This B&N collector's edition includes a double-sided poster featuring the covers of The Selection and The One, as well as an exclusive extra scene from Kiera Cass! The One will captivate readers who love dystopian YA fiction and fairy tales. Fans who have followed America's whirlwind romance since it began will delight in The One—a swoon-worthy read for teens who have devoured Veronica Roth's Divergent, Ally Condie's Matched, or Lauren Oliver's Delirium.

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen—and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants."

Release Date: 5/6/14.

Why I'm Waiting: I have wanted to start this trilogy for a while now, not only because of the beautiful covers, but because all the amazing reviews these three books have been receiving. I just recently purchased the first two books, and I'm EXTREMELY excited to get to them!

Giveaway Winner from March!

I know, I'm so behind on this, and it's on the verge of being sad...but with school, and so many other things flying at me ALL at ONCE, I completely forgot to announce the winner of this giveaway!

There were four books up for grabs, and they were going to ONE single winner!

And without further a go, that winner is....

Michele Luker!!

Congratz! I'll be sending you an email right after I post this, informing you of the prize coming your way!

If you aren't the winner, no worries! This month's giveaway is still going on, and there's plenty of time to enter! Here's the link; April Giveaway.

Thank you ALL for entering!

Author Interview: Louise Caiola

The Making of Nebraska Brown, by Louise Caiola.

"The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise, an entire continent from the life she once knew. The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory.

All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love. Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded.

Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to.

The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home."

Can you tell us a little about yourself, your book and how you decided to become an author?
 
First, thank you so much for having me here! I enjoy chatting about The Making of Nebraska Brown. As a long-time reader with a special affection for mysteries, it seemed almost natural that I venture into writing a few of my own. As for how I decided to be an author, well, if I'm being honest..it wasn't a conscious decision. I've said it before - I really believe that writers get chosen by the craft and not the other way around. At least that's what I tell myself when things get a bit frustrating! Aside from that, I'm a mother of two. My kids (pretty much all grown up now) are the biggest part of my world. I feel that we are placed on this earth with a specific destiny to fulfill. Mine was to realize my desire to be a mom and then to carve out a niche for myself in the literary landscape. These are just two of the things that define me. However, I would venture to say they are the most important ones.

What has inspired you to write such a different type of book, like The Making of Nebraska Brown?

I wanted to create a story that pushed the limits of the typical "identity crisis." I'm also a fan of dual locales. As a reader I grow quite weary of scenes that take place in the same setting page after page. This book was an exploration of the less glorious side of first love, of the far-from-idyllic family type, and of the consequences of our imperfect decisions and actions. These are all aspects of human behavior that I find fascinating.

Are any of the characters or events in this book based on real people or real situations you have been in?

Directly, no. Indirectly, yes. I have met a few "Shanes" in my life and also one or two "Tommys." I have seen young women struggle to notch out their individuality within a relationship. I think it is so easy for girls to become controlled by others and lose their own voice. Some people have described Ann Leigh as bratty or too strong-willed. But, in actuality she is simply very determined to rise above the emotional fray. That determination is often misdiagnosed as bad behavior. I also think it is important to reveal the flaws in each character in order to tap into the essence of their humanness.
As for the plot, totally fictional.

Why Nebraska and why Italy? (UGH I want to go to Italy!)

I am intrinsically drawn to the Midwestern culture. Not really sure why. As for Italy - it is a hope of mine to one day travel up one side and down the other of that lovely country. I suppose Ann/Ana was living out some form of my personal dream.

Do you have any other books in the works right now? If so, can we get a few hints at what it might be about?

I'd be happy to share! I am working on a new contemporary mystery currently titled "Counting Snow Doves." It is a young suspense story with a bit of murder, love, loss and family mayhem. I'm having a great time meeting these new people and helping to bring their tale to life. I hope you will all stay tuned for further details. In fact, if anyone is interested, they can sign up on my mailing list to receive an email as to any upcoming projects, contests, and other fun stuff. Promise - no spamming. Here is the link - The Making of Nebraska Brown by Louise Caiola

Thank you SOO much for stopping by and answering a few questions! I absolutely adored The Making of Nebraska Brown, and I'm excited to check out Counting Snow Doves!

Review:

Recently I've been into reading books about memory loss, and the retrieving thereof. I don't know why! I just LOVE reading about the struggle, the hardship and the rewarding feelings. The Making Of Nebraska Brown gave me ALL and that and MUCH more!

When I first started reading this one, I was intrigued by the cover, mainly because of the hole in her head! I had no idea what it was about, but just because of that I wanted to pick it up! Getting into the book we were introduced to a character named Nebraska Brown, we are actually introduced to Ann Leigh. Who wakes up on the ground one day, in ITALY with absolutely no memory of where she is, or even who she is.

She's confused as to why she's in Italy, who the guy is in her apartment, who this other guy is that she keeps having flashbacks of, and is she has any family. There is so much going on, and Ann has NO IDEA where to begin. But things do get a little harder when Ann realizes that Tommy isn't telling her the full truth. She wants to trust him, but her visions tell different stories than Tommy does!

Not only did I absolutely enjoy Ann, and even Tommy and Shane in a kind of strange way, but the ending completely stole my heart and broke me down... I pretty much blubbered like a baby days after.

If you're looking for something meaningful, beautiful, filled with heartache, and TOUGH struggles, this is the book for you!

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's Monday, What Am I Reading?

Title: Shadow and Bone.
Author: Leigh Bardugo.
Summary:

"The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.

Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?

The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.

But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance."

My Thoughts So Far:

I've heard such good things about Shadow and Bone, and decided to pick up...a LONG time ago. For some reason I just haven't been able to fit it into my reading schedule. But this month Shadow and Bone is Burn Bright's Book Club monthly read! I'm almost half way through, and just barely started it yesterday! I absolutely LOVE the main character; she's totally kick BUTT!

I'm dying to see how things turn out, and to EVEN get started on the second book!

Have you read this one? What did you think about it?

Book Review: Cruel Beauty!

Title: Cruel Beauty.
Author: Rosamund Hodge.
Series: No.
Pages: 342.
Source: Me My Shelf and I, for Review.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray.
Published Date: 1/28/14.
Links:
Book Depository.
Goodreads.

Summary:

"Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love."

My Thoughts:

I don’t think there are many people that can say they haven’t seen this book either on one of their favorite blogs, on youtube, or any other form of social media, Cruel Beauty is HOT right now in the reading universe!

For those of you, who don’t know what Cruel Beauty is about (and I don’t know why you wouldn’t!) it’s basically a retelling of The Beauty and the Beast….except with a demon lord, and a captured prince who will forever be a prisoner!

Before she was born, Nyx’s father made a deal with the demon lord, as many people did in their moment of desperation, asking him to allow his wife to bare a child. The demon lord decided to grant his wish, but instead he would have twins, and when they came of age, one of the two daughters would become the demon lord’s wife. As you might have assumed, the demon lord doesn’t just give out wishes, but instead asks for something far worse in return.

Since she was eight, when Nyx was told that she would be marrying the demon lord in a few years to come, she knew that her sister Astraia was her father’s favorite. The way he looked at her, treated her, almost as if she had no idea of ALL the evil things lurking around the corner. On the other hand Nyx has no one. She doesn’t have her father, because he shows her no affection at all. She doesn’t have her mother who passed away years ago. And she doesn’t have her aunt, who instead spends a few nights in bed with her father.

Nyx has been trained from the day she was informed about her fate, to defeat and kill the demon lord, and bring her community back to normal. She knows what she has to do, and she has prepared as much as she possibly could have, but all that doesn’t matter, when Nyx wakes up on her wedding day, knowing this might be the last day she’ll ever see her family, or ever breathe air outside of his mansion.

But as many of you Beauty and the Beast fans may know, the demon lord isn’t much like he is claimed to be. Yes, he grants these wishes, and causes people harm in their lives. But nobody knows that he, himself is forced to do it by a greater power. He, himself, is a prisoner as well.

After spending days, even weeks with him, Nyx sees a different side than the rumors and stories she’s been told about the demon lord. Instead of destroying him, Nyx almost…wants to help him.

Nyx is torn between her heart and her head. She doesn’t know what to do…can she really get herself to kill the only man that’s ever loved her, that’s ever showed her affection, that’s ever kissed her?

Cruel Beauty shows that love can be found in the most unexpected places, in the most unexpected ways!

Cruel Beauty was such a good read! When I was little I LOVED Beauty and the Beast, and Cruel Beauty gave me that same joy and so much more! It didn’t follow the original story exactly, which I liked as well. I felt that the author added their own spin and personality to it, which made it that much more interesting!

If you’ve read any of reviews of Cruel Beauty or have heard anyone talking about it, then you may know about the whole “name issue”. This wasn’t really an issue for me at all. I can see where people might have a hard time pronouncing some of the names, but I guess that just isn’t something that bothers me. One thing I do have to say about this topic though, is the similarity between Nyx’s sister’s name and the name of their city. Her sister is named, Astraia and her city is called Arcadia…throughout a good portion of the book was completely confused on which was which.

Throughout this entire read I was Team Ignifex, the demon lord, because not only am I a true Beauty and the Beast fan, but he was so gentle and caring for her; even when she was trying to find any way to destroy him. While I LOVED Ignifex, I really enjoyed a lot of the other characters; Astraia, her aunt, her dad and Shade.

Overall I found Cruel Beauty to be a fantastic and lovely retelling of a story that I loved in my childhood! The ending was a HUGE twist, that ripped apart my fragile heart, but quickly sewed it back again.

I hope you decide to give this one a shot, enjoy it as well!

Book Haul!

Welcome to Turning Pages!

Stephen Downing Is Dead, by Dan Goss Anderson.

Edge of Tomorrow, by Hiroshi Sakuazaka.

Noggin, by John Corey Whaley.

Catch a Falling Star, by Kim Culbertson.

Time Between Us, by Tamara Ireland Stone.

Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore.

The Selection, by Kiera Cass.

Beautiful Redemption, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.

Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer.

Cress, by Marissa Meyer.

Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski.

The Elite, by Kiera Cass.

Panic, by Lauren Oliver.

Blog Tour: How I Got Skinny, Famous And Fell Madly In Love.

"“Thick. Heavy. Big boned. Plump. Full figured. Chunky. Womanly. Large. Curvy. Plus-size. Hefty.” To sixteen-year-old Emery Jackson, these are all just euphemisms for the big “F” word—”fat.” Living on a Southern California beach with her workout fiend dad, underwear model sister, and former model mother, it is impossible for Emery not to be aware of her weight. Emery is okay with how things are. That is, until her “momager” signs her up for Fifty Pounds to Freedom, a reality show in which Emery will have to lose fifty pounds in fifty days in order to win the million dollars that will solve her family’s financial woes. Emery is skeptical of the process, but when the pounds start to come off and the ratings skyrocket, she finds it hard to resist the adoration of her new figure and the world of fame. Emery knows that things have changed. But is it for the better?"

Purchase:

Barnes and Noble|Amazon|Book Depository

Author Interview:

What inspired you to write a book with this topic? 

First of all, covering reality TV has become a huge part of my job description at E! News. Safe to say, I have learned a lot about the process – from casting, to producing, to the resulting creation of reality celebrities.

And the issue of body image and our society’s abnormally excessive focus on being thin is something I think a lot about. I am guilty of allowing myself to buy into this distorted view of beauty that the media has promoted over the years. I wanted to explore how this plays out on the personal level, and that is how Emery Jackson came into creation. But the issues that Emery deals with are issues that people of every age – not just teens – struggle with. I mean, if you internalized all the messages that are sent either explicitly or implicitly to us via the media, you couldn’t help but feel inferior on so many levels. Obviously, that is very unhealthy, but on some level we are all guilty of this. Emery finds herself inhabiting the Big Girl world, the Skinny Girl world, the private life and the celebrity life. She comes through the process with some amazing insights that I think many readers will appreciate.

When writing, How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell in Love, did you already know how you wanted it to end? Or did that come along with the writing and the way the characters developed?

I really didn’t. I just wrote the story, and I tried to be dedicated to what Emery would naturally do. Luckily, the publisher didn’t make me outline exactly how it would end. And I am grateful to them for that. I didn’t want to have it end how I would personally end it. It is Emery’s story and ultimately she ends things in a way only Emery really would be capable of doing. I think we are so trained, especially if you are a reality competition show fan, to expect certain endings. We want the final rose ceremony! We expect that dramatic weigh-in and predictable result! We want the post-show reunion special where everyone trashes each other and settles scores! But, in real life, things don’t always work out like they do on so-called “reality” shows.

Losing fifty pounds in fifty days can be pretty unhealthy, does Emery see repercussions of that in the book?

I don’t want to reveal how much weight she loses – whether it is more or less than fifty, or fifty exactly. I want to leave that up to readers to discover. But there is no doubt that her weight-loss effort, while incorporating some healthy dietary habits and exercise regimes, is overall extremely ill-advised. Most experts will tell you that the kind of crash dieting that occurs on shows like The Biggest Loser are not good for you. It might be good for ratings, it might make good episodic entertainment, but it is not what is best for your body. We need to really look at these kind of extreme weight-loss shows – as viewers, as doctors, as producers, as journalists, as participants – and ask ourselves if this end-justifies-the-means ethic is truly a path that should keep being walked.

A lot of girls and women are dealing with the issue of being overweight, or at least feeling that way, what kind of suggestions do you have? 

I think Emery Jackson says it best in the book: “The difference between being ugly and beautiful has zero to do with your appearance.”

With this book released, do you have another book in the works? Does it revolve around weight loss as well? 


I am writing a series of thrillers that are set in Hollywood, and involve celebrity, but not specifically about weight loss. But you can bet that the characters in my next books will be coping with private struggles of their own!

About the Author:

Ken Baker is the E! News/E! Online Senior Correspondent and Breaking News Editor, an acclaimed author, producer, public speaker and former pro hockey player.

Ken reports breaking news, conducts celebrity interviews, delivers investigative reports and hosts a range of news segments for E! News, E! Online, E! International, E! News specials and the network’s live events.

Baker has published six books. His newest work is a novel due out in April 2014 titled “How I Got Skinny, Famous and Fell Madly in Love,” a story about an obese teen who is pressured by her family to go on a reality show to lose weight and, in so doing, learns the real meaning of freedom.

His debut novel, “Fangirl” (Running Press, 2012), told the story of a pop star who falls in love with a fan amid a sensational tabloid drama. Ken is adapting “Fangirl” into a movie in collaboration with Converge Media.

Ken is currently at work on a series of Hollywood-themed thrillers set for release in 2015.

Author's Links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Week's New YA Releases

Welcome to Turning Pages!

This is a meme hosted here at Turning Pages, showcasing all of the new YA books coming out within the next seven days. Interested in any of the books mentioned below? Click on the books title, it'll take you to that book's Book Depository page, where you'll be able to read more about it!

Paperback:

Sweet Reckoning, by Wendy Higgins.

Goddess, by Josephine Angelini.

Gorgeous, by Paul Rudnick.

Forever, by Judy Blume.

French Kiss, by Sarra Manning.

The Boyfriend App, by Katie Sise.

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green.

Life After Theft, by Aprilynne Pike.

Hardback:

The Treatment, by Suzanne Young.

The Taking, by Kimberly Derting.

Tease, by Amanda Maciel.

Book Review: The Museum of Intangible Things

Title: The Museum of Intangible Things.
Author: Wendy Wunder.
Series: No.
Pages: 304.
Source: Me My Shelf And I, for Review.
Publisher: Razorbill.
Published Date: 4/10/14.
Links:
Goodreads.
Book Depository.

Summary:

"Loyalty. Envy. Obligation. Dreams. Disappointment. Fear. Negligence. Coping. Elation. Lust. Nature. Freedom. Heartbreak. Insouciance. Audacity. Gluttony. Belief. God. Karma. Knowing what you want (there is probably a French word for it). Saying Yes. Destiny. Truth. Devotion. Forgiveness. Life. Happiness (ever after).

Hannah and Zoe haven’t had much in their lives, but they’ve always had each other. So when Zoe tells Hannah she needs to get out of their down-and-out New Jersey town, they pile into Hannah’s beat-up old Le Mans and head west, putting everything—their deadbeat parents, their disappointing love lives, their inevitable enrollment at community college—behind them.

As they chase storms and make new friends, Zoe tells Hannah she wants more for her. She wants her to live bigger, dream grander, aim higher. And so Zoe begins teaching Hannah all about life’s intangible things, concepts sadly missing from her existence—things like audacity, insouciance, karma, and even happiness."

My Thoughts:

The Museum of Intangible Things is a book filled with love, true friendship, heartache, and so much more. Picking up this book, I thought it would be a light summer read, thanks to the amazing looking cover and the synopsis, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know that I would laugh on one page, and cry my eyes out on the next. There was just so much emotion in this story, and I absolutely LOVED every single bit of it.

The Museum of Intangible Things follows the story of two best friends, Hannah and Zoe. They couldn’t be more opposite, but have been friends for what seems like ever! While neither of the two girls have much in their lives, they know they will always have each other.

Life is boring in the small town in New Jersey where they live. They attend a poor school, which offers almost nothing besides the basic required classes. Hannah spends her time out by the lake, or selling hot dogs from her hot dog cart (in the hopes to earn enough money to attend college) and Zoe spends her time with boys, thinking about boys or talking about boys (basically anything that revolves around boys). With almost nothing to do, the girls sneak into the private high school on the other side of town to sit and watch classes taking place from above. Hannah sneaks in to learn, and Zoe sneaks in to swoon over any cute guy that catches her attention.

After attending a party thrown by the newest cute guy Zoe can’t enough of, Hannah wakes up in the basement covered in cold hot dogs…just another prank making fun of her job. She gets up and looks for Zoe, finding her standing outside in the storm, with a look on her face, only Hannah knows what it means.

Zoe is seeing things again…

A week passes by, Zoe isn’t eating, isn’t getting out of bed, and Hannah can’t seem to get in contact with her, not matter how many text messages or voicemails she leaves her.

Even though her best friend isn’t leaving the house, things seem to look a little brighter for Hannah. She just kissed the boy she’s been crushing on since middle school, and the hot dog cart seems to be doing well. THAT IS until she goes on her computer to check how much she’s saved up, and realizes almost all of it is gone..She refreshes the page just to make sure her eyes aren’t fooling her, but still nothing. Hannah knows who took it, and she can’t believe he would do that.

As if on cue, Zoe walks in, asking Hannah to leave town with her. She doesn’t want to be gone too long, but she explains to Hannah over and over again that she needs a small break, a weekend road trip. Unsure of what to do, and kind of worried that she won’t have a perfect attendance anymore at school, she knows Zoe means everything to her, so Hannah agrees to come.

The two girls sneak into IKEA one night, flash cowboys on the highway, steal their horses, and want to see a buffalo and so much more! All that, with nothing but an old van and a box full of change!

This road trip will be the time of their lives, but also completely change their lives. While Zoe and Hannah seem to be doing a lot of fun and crazy things, Hannah knows something deeper is going on inside of Zoe’s head. The only thing Hannah can do is to be by her best friend’s side, protect her, and take care of her. Even if it means going off the edge…

The Museum of Intangible Things was one of those books that will stick with me forever. There were just so many FEELS in this book that I was crying and laughing at the same time. It was easy to connect with the characters, and I think that’s why I felt all the emotions that they were feeling as well.

Zoe and Hannah were both amazing characters. The main reason I decided to pick this one up, was simply because of the friendship. Yes, I do like romance (A LOT actually…) but I also do like books that focus on friendship. The Museum of Intangible Things did have a bit of romance, but it was definitely in the background. The cover and the synopsis failed to mentioned anything about Zoe’s problems, which added a whole different element into the story.

Besides the friendship with each other, Hannah and Zoe did have a lot of other things going on around them. Hannah’s dad is an alcoholic newsman, and her mom barely gets out of bed. Zoe has her younger brother, who is so close to Hannah, she considers him, hers as well. And Zoe’s mom, who is constantly paranoid about her daughter’s problem and what was going on in Zoe’s head.

I liked that these characters were down to earth, and REAL.

OH, the ending? YES, it broke my heart. It yanked it out of my chest, threw it on the ground, shattered it into a million pieces, swept it up and flushed it down the toilet. The story ended in a way I never saw coming, and that completely took me by surprise…But looking back at everything that happened before and during the trip, I saw the signs and the meaning behind the trip in the first place.

Overall I enjoyed Wendy Wunder’s Museum of Intangible Things! I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a good road trip story, something emotionally beautiful and filled with love.

Waiting on Wednesday

Title: The Taking.
Author: Kimberly Derting.
Summary:

"A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas 'n' Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn't aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra's old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn't sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin's annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra's father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned.

Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?"

Release Date: 4/29/14.

Why I'm Waiting: I'm waiting for SO SO many reasons! First off, I absolutely adore Kimberly Derting, she was one of the nicest and funniest people I've ever had the chance to meet! She's a local-ish author from where I live, and I'm excited to see her again soon! Second, the cover! The cover isn't over the top, but it's interesting; I like the font, and they way its spelled out with bugs! And finally third, the synopsis sounds AMAZING! I'm currently reading another book that has this same issue, of memory loss and all of a sudden waking up and having NO idea where you are...For some reason I'm really getting into this idea! I'm pretty excited to pick up a copy for myself and dive right in!

Reading Scary Books At Night? Not Me!

Don't get me wrong, I love watching scary movies and being scared just as much as the next chick. Maybe even a little bit more! I don't know why or what it is about scary movies or books that completely sucker me in. I mean who would want to be scared for fun?

...Well ME!

I can easily admit that romance/contemporary books are my favorite genre, especially for the summer time, when I do nothing but lounge around outside in the sun. Summer just puts me into this mood where I only want to read about love, family and friendship. But scary and horror books are right behind contemporary!

When will you be catching me reading a good horror story? Well, NEVER EVER under my blanket with nothing but a flashlight on. It doesn't matter how much I'm enjoying the story, or how badly I want to know what happens next, I can't get myself to read a scary book at night!

No, I'm not afraid of the dark, and no, I don't get nightmares anymore (except for the occasional one or two, but we all get those, right?.....RIGHT?!).

I don't really know why, but I do have a theory or two.

When I was just a WEEE little Lisa, I had the biggest fear of the night and the dark. It didn't matter if I needed water or had to use the restroom in the middle of the night, I was much too afraid to get up and go. If I couldn't hold it anymore, or if my throat was drier than a desert, I would run to the light switch in my room, and from there on turn on all the lights to the kitchen. Of course doing the same thing on my way back, to switch them off.

Besides my massive fear of the dark, or more likely what might have been lurking in it. I would get nightmares from almost anything. I had nightmares from watching Scooby Doo, from watching the news, from  watching Beauty in the Beast, and almost any other silly thing you can imagine.

I, of course, (*cough cough*) am not afraid of any of these things anymore, but I remember what it felt like laying in bed all night, sweating (but not wanting to take the blanket off in case something from underneath the bed were to grab me) and watching the door all night making sure nothing snuck in to get me. But I TRULY believe that this is the main reason as to why I don't read scary books at night, or watch scary movies by myself.

I would much rather read them in the morning time, or throughout the day, so that way I'll be able to forget about it before I decided to finally crawl into bed for the night..

I know that might sound a little crazy, but when do YOU ready scary books? Do you read them at all?

It's Monday, What Am I Reading?

Title: The Making of Nebraska Brown.
Author: Louise Caiola.
Summary:

"The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise, an entire continent from the life she once knew. The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory.

All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love. Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded.

Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to.

The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home."

My Thoughts So Far:

I haven't gotten very far into this one at all YET! School has been a bit busy, and lets not forget Easter yesterday, so I haven't gotten very much time to read in the last five or six days. I'm REALLY excited for The Making of Nebraska Brown, not only does the synopsis sound amazing (can't wait to see why she's running from her boyfriend) and I'm also in a blog tour for this one on April 29th!