This Shattered World - Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Date Started: 2/23/15
Date Finished: 2/25/15

I was SUPER excited to get my hands on this sequel to "These Broken Stars," which I loved (see my post here).

Here's the official book blurb:

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. His sister died in the original uprising against the powerful corporate conglomerate that rules Avon with an iron fist. These corporations make their fortune by terraforming uninhabitable planets across the universe and recruiting colonists to make the planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage against the military occupying his home, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape base together, caught between two sides in a senseless war.

The stunning second novel in the Starbound trilogy is an unforgettable story of love and forgiveness in a world torn apart by war.

Full spoilers ahead!

We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

Date Started: 12/14/14
Date Finished: 12/16/14

Around this time of year I start looking at the "Best of" lists for the year. What did Amazon think were the Best Books of 2014? What about Goodreads? What about the local bookstore? Or People magazine? There's typically a lot on the list that I haven't read - mostly because I read based on what looks good in the moment without doing a lot of research. So these lists give me a chance to look at a more curated selection and see what might be fun to add to my reading list. This book, "We Were Liars" was on a lot of lists. The premise looked intriguing and so I decided to squeeze it in before year-end.

Spoilers ahead. Seriously. The big ones.

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Date Started: 12/10/14
Date Finished: 12/11/14

Never have I read a book with so much dread. I mean, the book was awesome, don't get me wrong. I was just so ill at ease the entire time I was reading it that it was almost uncomfortable. Why? Well...

The Maze Runner - James Dashner

Date Started: 10/6/14
Date Finished: 10/9/14

Ok, seriously, WHY is everything a series. I read this one because of the movie coming out. Besides knowing it was Lord of the Flies-ish (boys, boys, boys!) and takes place in a maze I didn't know anything else about it.

Well SPOILER ALERT: you don't know much when you finish the book either! Here's what you do know.

Reached - Ally Condie

Date Started: 9/8/2014
Date Finished: 9/10/2014

Amazon blurb:

Cassia’s journey began with an error, a momentary glitch in the otherwise perfect façade of the Society. After crossing canyons to break free, she waits, silk and paper smuggled against her skin, ready for the final chapter.

The wait is over.

One young woman has raged against those who threaten to keep away what matters most—family, love, choice. Her quiet revolution is about to explode into full-scale rebellion. With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose. 

Crossed - Ally Condie

Date Started: 9/5/2014
Date Finished: 9/5/2014

On we go with the YA saga....this time Ky and Cassia are escaping Society...but to what?!

Amazon summary:

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by Society to his certain death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life . . . and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game. On the edge of Society, nothing is as expected, and crosses and double crosses make Cassia's path more twisted than ever.

Matched - Ally Condie

Date Started: 8/22/14
Date Finished: 8/25/14

Ah more dystopian YA...right in my wheel-house.

It's an interesting premise - Society is in charge of everything, including your Match. But things go wrong for Cassia and our story is set in motion.

Amazon blurb:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Mila 2.0 - Debra Driza

Date Started: June 9, 2014
Date Finished: June 10, 2014

I recently started visiting the local library after a long absence (the one closest to me before our recent move had been closed for renovations). Having a kid is a great reason to return to the library - obviously the books are a big draw, but they also have great story times and some even have play areas. Nice! So, while picking up new books for my son, I decided why not look for some books for me? The price is certainly right. My first library book was Freedom, which is reviewed below. Mila 2.0 was my next pick.

Why...?

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy Book #4) - Richelle Mead

Date Started - 3/18/14
Date Finished - 3/24/14

What can I say, I'm on a roll. I'm probably just going to keep reading these until I finish the series. Only a few more left to go!

Nutshell: I think this was BY FAR the best book in the series yet. Read on for why (and all of the spoilers!)…

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy Book #3) - Richelle Mead

Date Started - 3/10/14
Date Finished - 3/17/14

Whizzing right through this series, as predicted. Here we go…spoilers ahead.

Frost Bite (Vampire Academy Book #2) - Richelle Mead

Date Started - 2/19/14
Date Finished - 2/24/14

I wasn't going to read this entire series back to back to back. No way. I've got to keep rotating other books in. That said, after purchasing all of these books on a daily kindle deal, they're all just staring at me begging to be read, so I went ahead and gave in to book two.

As is generally the case when I wait to summarize, I'm going to do a pretty bad job, so I'll be cutting and pasting spoilers on the next page (along with some brief thoughts, of course).

Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead

Date Started - 1/9/14
Date Finished - 1/13/14

I was hesitant about this one. VERY hesitant. I mean vampires are kind of overdone, right? Like, really overdone. So why did I go there? Well, because the movie is coming out in February and I saw a preview that made it look interesting (read: titillating). It seemed different enough from Twilight (yikes, a Twilight reference! How passé!) so I thought, "why not?".

These Broken Stars - Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

Date Started - 1/2/14
Date Finished - 1/4/14

Off to a good start in 2014! I swore I wasn't going to read this book in such close proximity to "The Fault in Our Stars" just because the titles are so similar. But, what can I say, this is the first book I've been convinced to read solely by Twitter (so, yay, first Twitter recommendation - it was good!). Side note: you can follow me on twitter @BStBibliophile.

As usual, spoilers ahead.

Timebound (The Chronos Files) - Rysa Walker

Date Started - Early December 2013
Date Finished - A Few Days Later

Ugh, I hate when I don't have time to do an entry because then it ends up being a crappy one. Anyway, I got this book for free as part of the Kindle Prime First deal (you get to pick one of four pre-selected books for free I guess - this was my first time trying it out). This one looked the best so I thought why not, and I have to say, I really enjoyed this book.

Spoilers ahead…

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

Date Started: 12/2/13
Date Finished: 12/8/13

Wow. Amazing book. I mean this one really lived up to the hype. Serious hype, too, taken from the author's website:

Nice Things That Have Happened

#1 New York Times bestseller
#1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
#9 The Bookseller (UK) bestseller
#1 Indiebound bestseller
New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Starred reviews from Booklist, SLJ, Publisher’s Weekly, Horn Book, and Kirkus

The Movie Rights

…have been optioned by the nice people at Fox 2000.

Spoilers will be ahead so if you don't want to know, don't click the link to read on!

Allegiant - Veronica Roth

Date Started - November 9, 2013
Date Finished - November 11, 2013

Did you really not see the ending coming? I mean, I saw how people got so crazy about it, but didn't read any of the comments since I was just getting into the series. But now that I finished it, I mean, did you really not see the ending coming?!

SPOILER ALERT AFTER THE LINK. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE ENDING RUINED.

Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Date Started: November 6, 2013
Date Finished: November 9, 2013

Ok, I raced through this series and couldn't quite remember where book two ended and the many plot twists and turns. And, in some degree, the second book in a three book series moves things along but isn't usually as interesting as the first or third book. So with that disclaimer, I'm basically just going to link to the wikipedia synopsis in terms of the plot summary. You can find that here.

I'll get into my thoughts on the series in the summary for Allegiant.

Divergent - Veronica Roth

Date Started: October 28, 2013
Date Finished: November 2, 2013

As readers of this blog (anyone out there?) know, I finally finished Wuthering Heights and was able to move on to Divergent. Nothing like some easy YA waiting for you to inspire you to finish that classic that's been hanging out on your Kindle home page.

So dystopian story, here we go...

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) - Kim Harrison

Date Started: 12/10/12
Date Finished: 12/17/12

Something to note here (when wondering how in the world I went from reading Mansfield Park to this one) - while I admittedly love a good Young Adult series, I'm also trying to write a YA book. In speaking with someone who went over some of my work, they recommended I do a lot more YA reading than I have in the past. Since I love Kim Harrison's adult writing, I thought I'd see how she handles this genre. Oh, and I wanted something light to read. There's that too.

The Magicians: A Novel - Lev Grossman

Date Started: 9/19/11
Date Finished: 9/26/11

One-Word Summary: Bizarre

So this was an Amazon Best of the Month, August 2009 choice. I'm a little behind the curve reading it I supposed but whatever. I read a little about the book - it seemed like a combination of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia - cool right? Well, yes, but this one was bizarre, and NOT appropriate for children.