2014 ARC August - Goals

ARC August is a challenge hosted by Octavia of Read. Sleep. Repeat. that encourages readers to read some of their ARCs that are piling up. I have not heard much of this before, as it is my first year blogging, but I am very excited about participating this year. I have quite a few books on Netgalley that I am hoping to get read in the near future, so this seems like the perfect challenge!

Here are the NINE eARCS and THREE physical ARCs that I hope to read this August:

eARCs: 

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Can't Look Away by Donna Cooner

Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Since Forever Ago by Olivia Besse

Wickedpedia by Chris Van Etten

Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore

The Girl Who Was on Fire by Multiple Authors

Physical ARCs: 

Madame Tussaud's Apprentice by Kathleen Benner Duble

Jex Malone by C. L Gaber & V.C. Stanley

Wanted: Dead or In Love by Kym Brunner

Review: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

A Little Something Different 

by Sandy Hall 

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Publication Date: August 26, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Reads - Macmillan
Edition: ARC
Page Count: 272
Source: ARC from Macmillan. Thank you SO much!

Goodreads Synopsis: The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.  But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

GOODREADS .  AMAZON . B&N 

Review: It was a few weeks ago when I decided that it might be time for me to try emailing an ARC request to a couple of publishers. I knew that there was a strong chance that nothing would come of it, but my blog had been up and running for a few months, and I had posted many, many reviews. I did not hear anything back, but I was not stressed about it, either. I knew I would continue my blog, continue doing what I love by reading books, and then try again in the future. When this book showed up on my doorstep from Macmillan in the middle of last week, I was shocked, and in the best way. I was so excited to open up the package and find this book inside. So excited, in fact, that I opened the book and read it right then and there. Cover to cover in one sitting, and let me tell you, it was so amazing. 

This book is the perfect summer read for a contemporary lover, and I found that I could not put the book down (not even to have dinner, we ended up eating pretty late that night!). I just had to know what happened next with the characters, and that is an element of a great book, in my opinion. I already assumed that this would be a book I would enjoy after reading the synopsis and requesting it. I never thought that it would be this good, though, and I am so grateful I was able to read it now. 

One of the best things about this book is that it is written in the narrative perspective of fourteen different people/objects, but none of them are the two main characters of Gabe and Azalea, or Lea as she prefers. Instead, we get to see everything that develops between them through the eyes and words of all of the other supporting characters within the novel. These people range between their friends, siblings, roommates, classmates, a creative writing professor, baristas, diner waitress, bus driver, a bench on their college campus, and even a squirrel! (and let me tell you, the squirrel was one of my favorites!). 

The wonderful thing about getting the book in this way is that we get to know much more of the story. We get to see the main characters in the eyes of so many people around them, positive and negative views. Since Gabe and Lea are far too shy to make things happen on their own, they need the encouragement and prodding of all of these other characters as well. Their professor loves playing match maker with students in the classroom, the workers at the local coffee shop think they're adorable, the diner waitress is sure they belong together, and the bus driver is reminded of the relationship he had with his own wife when they met. 

While this is a love story, it was not typical and predictable. It was not instalove that tends to drive me a bit crazy, as it's usually completely unrealistic. Instead, Gabe and Lea have plenty of issues that lead to complications when they try to make things happen between them. Gabe has physical issues that cause problems between them, as well as take quite the toll on his confidence. Lea tends to be a bit shy, and becomes impatient and annoyed instead of asking more questions. They were far from perfect, and that is what I loved about them. 

This book was adorable, the romance was heart-warming, and the characters and plot line made me want to continue reading. This book left me wanting to read more; I wanted to know what happened next for all of the characters, and I love that I get to leave those things up to my imagination. (Of course, I'm a sap, so everything works out perfectly in my mind!). I applaud Sandy Hall for this book and the wonderful narrative technique she decided to use. I look forward to purchasing a finished copy of this book in August, and I'm excited to see what Swoon Reads continues to publish. 


Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Review: How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love by Ken Baker

How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love

by Ken Baker

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction       
Publisher: Running Press Kids     
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Edition: ARC
Page Count: 272
Source: ARC copy via publisher (THANK YOU!)

Goodreads Synopsis: "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?
 GOODREADS . AMAZON . B&N

Review:  Yay contemporary! I was so excited when I received the email about this book. I intended to be a part of the blog tour, but things did not work out in time. Despite that, Running Press Kids was great enough to still send a print ARC for me to read and review. Let me state that this is my first EVER print ARC, and I may have squealed a bit (or a lot) when it came in the mail. So, thank you again, RP! I really, really appreciate it. 

This book was so much more than I could have expected. I feel like it could have been far less detailed and exciting if Baker had simply wrote a book about a girl who went on a reality show to lose weight and get money for it. While that was a part of the plot, it certainly was not the whole thing at all. Instead, we have the character of Emery Jackson, who is one of the best female YA contemp characters I have read in awhile. She is an individual, spunky and sarcastic, and she is also a very real person with very real problems. 

The whole set up for the book was incredible. You have the former athlete father who now does motivational things and travels all of the time, so he is rarely around. You have the mom who spends too much time focusing on her appearance, and the appearance of her daughters (getting your daughter a book job at age seventeen? WOW!). You have the older, perfect sister who seems to only care about herself and how she looks. Then you have Emery. The black sheep in the family, though we find out more and more about why this is throughout the book. 

Ultimately, this book hit hard at a topic that is becoming a pretty big problem. I love how in the book, the f-word and f-bomb stand for something very different, and even more hurtful - FAT. Baker does not just focus on people being cruel because of weight, though. Based on vlogs that Emery does as part of the reality show, Baker writes parts of how awful we can be to each other about anything or everything. Someone is too skinny, too fat, too pretty, too ugly...too anything and suddenly that makes them worthy of ridicule. I love how Emery opens the readers eyes to this, and shows how it is definitely NOT okay. 

This book was everything I want in a contemporary novel; a strong female character who is going through difficult, relate able things. A realistic romance that goes through its ups-and-downs. I absolutely loved Ben and how much he loved Emery, not caring at all how she looked, and always having complete faith in her ability to be successful. Teenage girls need to know that they don't have to settle, that there ARE good guys out there, ones who will love them for who they are without needing to change. We have family problems, and huge secrets. Ultimately, this was a book I did not want to put down. I read it in one sitting, and I laughed and cried, and felt and thought so many things as I read it. I would certainly recommend it to everything, and I do believe that it is a book that every teenage girl needs to read. 

Rating: 5.0/5.0