Sunday 26 June 2011

Between by Jessica Warman (ARC Review)

Genre: Contemporary
Number of Pages: 320
For ages 14+ for light sexual content

"Elizabeth Valchar--pretty, popular, and rich--wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday on the yacht where she'd been celebrating with her closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, she finds her own drowned body is hitting the side of the boat. Liz is dead.

She has no memory of what happened to her, and can only observe in horror the fallout of her death. She's also soon joined by Alex Berg, a quiet boy from her high school who was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The two keep each other company, floating in and out of memories and trying to piece together the details of what happened to each of them.

In her regular life, Liz was a runner. It wasn't abnormal for her to run 8-10 miles per day. But as memories from closer to her death begin to surface, Liz finds that she'd been running much more than normal, and that she'd all but stopped eating. Liz's mother, who died when Liz was nine, had battled with anorexia as well, and those around her worried Liz was following in her mother's footsteps. But something more sinister was consuming Liz from the inside out. . . .


From critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman comes a shocking mystery, a heartbreaking character study, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go." -Goodreads

Between by Jessica Warman is a book you would think was a lot like, If I Stay or Before I Fall. Frankly, I think there are many books out there with this kind of story line. Girl dies (or in If I Stay, is in a coma.) and then is in this separate world where she needs to figure out her life. I came into reading this book thinking this would be a book that would be a bore. I thought, "Been there, read that." But this book surprisingly, was REALLY good. And different than those other books.

Liz is that girl who has it all. The good looks, the cute boyfriend, and the rich parents. She wakes up on her dad's boat, named after her of course, to hear a thumping noise. She realizes that the thumping is her, face down, in the water, dead. She has no idea how in the world she drowned because she can't remember anything about that night. Once you start reading you realize, Liz has lots of secrets she's been keeping.

Alex was a BIG character in this book. I really like him. :) I wouldn't say that he is going on my "swoon worthy boy" list but he's pretty awesome. Like Liz, Alex was stuck in this different world having no idea what was keeping him there. All Liz and Alex know is that they are both the link to taking them from this in between world.

This book didn't have a whole lot of romance, which made me sad. But you wouldn't really think it would since she was dead. I did sense a little chemistry between Liz and Alex, even though Jessica Warman never really said anything about it.

I don't think there will be a sequel to this book. I think it will be a stand alone because there really isn't a cliffhanger or anything like that.

I enjoyed this book very much. It did have some flaws but I read it about a week ago so they really didn't stand out because I can't remember them. I give this book 4 out of 5 diva crowns.Between comes out on August 2nd 2011! So look out for it! It was thoroughly enjoyable :)


Sunday 12 June 2011

How to Rock Braces and Glasses by Meg Haston (ARC Review)

Unfortunately, since this IS an ARC there is no cover online for me to get for this!

Genre: Contemporary
Number of Pages(ARC):294
For ages 12+

"In the story, an eighth grade Queen Bee, after finding herself dropped in Loserland, realizes it is time to reap the bad karma she has sown." -Goodreads

Since this IS an ARC I can't really use the summary on the back of the book because they may change it for the original! And Goodreads doesn't really give you much to get to know the book from. I'm going to TRY to summarize this for you better. BUT I am terrible at it. So... brace yourself.

Kacey Simon is one popular, snobbish, amazingly pretty girl that all of us girls would KILL to be. She's also sometimes a little TO honest. Suddenly, all of that changes when she gets an eye infection and has to wear hideous glasses and then get braces. On top of it all her braces give her a littthsp! Now, she has to give up her star roll, her "reporting career",and her friends.. who she then realizes weren't really that good of friends from the start. Kacey has to learn who her true friends are and if being popular is really all it's "cracked up to be" in How to Rock Braces and Glasses by Meg Haston.

Oh. My. GOODNESS. This book was SPECTACULAR! My mom got me this ARC when she was at the BEA conference! She got LOADS of ARCs! Now, if you have been reading this blog for a while you know that I'm not the biggest fan of contemporary. Especially, when the main form of it isn't romance. 'Cause ya know... I love my contemporary romance. ;) This book literally blew my mind.

Kacey was one of the main characters that you really didn't like at the beginning and then all of a sudden, BAM! you love her and have sympathy towards her. You could really tell how she changed as a person thoroughly through this book. She had choices where I literally had to set the book down and take a deep breath to keep from screaming, "DON'T DO IT!" That's a good thing in my book. I want to be involved. And you should be.

I'm not the skinny jeans rock band type.. but MAN I love Zander. He was so sweet and understanding! When everyone thought that Kacey's glasses and braces were a huge turn off, he didn't mind. Now, THAT'S an awesome guy!


I only have ONE piece of criticism and that was that the ending came a little too fast. About the last three pages everything got resolved. I wish it would have been a little less rushed and there was more time to fix everything. I do think, though that it ended so fast because there will be a second book. So HOORAY! There's a second book!

I was utterly blown away with this book. I usually don't like contemporary especially when it isn't contemporary romance. I absolutely can not wait for the next book! I give this book 5 out of 5 diva crowns! This book comes out on September 5th 2011! So you better get it! It is a book that you HAVE to get!




Thursday 9 June 2011

And the winner is....

I would just like to thank all 11 of you.. yes 11.. who participated ;)

I determined who won by random number generator. The number came out to 23!

SO the winner of my awesome Liar Society package is.....


BRODIE!!!!!

Congratualtions! Brodie I will be contacting you so I can get your address and your wrist or ankle size! Thank you all again for entering! There will definitely be more giveaways to come and an ARC review on Sunday! :)

Hope your day is filled with *SPARKLES*
-Jewelz <3