Review: Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas

Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: December 9, 2014
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 289
Source: Own

Goodreads Synopsis:  
Top Five Things That Are Ruining Chloe’s Day

5) Working the 6:30 a.m. shift at GoodFoods Market

4) Crashing a cart into a customer’s car right in front of her snarky coworker Sammi

3) Trying to rock the “drowned rat” look after being caught in a snowstorm

2) Making zero progress with her crush, Tyson (see #3)

1) Being accused—along with her fellow teenage employees—of stealing upwards of $10,000

Chloe would rather be anywhere than locked in work jail (aka the break room) with five of her coworkers . . . even if one of them is Tyson. But if they can band together to clear their names, what looks like a total disaster might just make Chloe’s list of Top Ten Best Moments.

GOODREADS . AMAZON . B&N

Review: Since I've been in such a bad reading slump lately, it seems like the only books I want to read are contemporary. I guess no matter what mood I'm in, or how bad my slump is, I can always deal with a nice, cute love story. Contemporary has always been my favorite genre, so I guess I am not too surprised by this. Top Ten Clues You're Clueless was a book I put on my TBR for January, so it was one that I really did want to get to within the month. It came to a point where the book just sounded really, really good, so I picked it up to take to work with me that day. Needless to say, by the time I went to bed that night I had finished the book and LOVED it. I didn't know much about it going in, but it was such a fantastic, fun, intriguing story.

The overall idea reminded me a bit of The Breakfast Club, which is a movie that I really love. The main character, Chloe works at a grocery store where she has to go in on Christmas Eve, supposedly for just a few hours. At her store, Goodfoods, they have been collecting money in order to donate to those less fortunate. On Christmas Eve when a news station comes to film the check being given, it turns out that someone has taken most of the money. Without giving too much away, someone says they're sure it was one of the teenage employees, so the group of them get stuck in the employee lounge of the store while they await the arrival of the police.

It reminded me of The Breakfast Club because the group of teens are all so different, though it was much for diverse than TBC, a nice added touch. Each of the teens has a different personality, different crushes between one another, and different things that they are dealing with in their lives, outside of being accused of stealing A LOT of money. Naturally, this means that there were points in the book where they did not get along at all, which made the whole thing more interesting. They were all under a lot of stress based on the situation, and it made perfect sense that they would snap a bit when they did not see eye-to-eye.

At a certain point I had mostly figured out what had happened, but I was still okay with it. It was not super obvious, just something that I took a guess at and ended up being right. I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and having figured it out didn't make me enjoy the ending any less. It was still interesting to see how the whole thing played out. I did not want to put it down, as I said before, and I always think that is a very good sign of a great book.

The romance in this book was incredibly cute, too. It's one of those where they clearly like each other, and probably have for awhile, but have not been brave enough to say anything. Instead, they flirt and drive everyone around them crazy because they won't just do something about it. I loved the diversity within the relationship as well, it is not something that you see a lot in YA novels, so it was a breath of fresh air.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were lovable and relate able, and it was a bit like a mystery though there was so much more to it than that. I think that anyone who enjoys a good YA contemporary would really enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Top Ten Contemporary Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! As always, I am linking up over at The Broke and the Bookish, and this week we are talking all about books we can't believe we haven't read. This one had some flexibility, as we were able to choose the genre/category we wanted to use. Since I am such a big contemporary fan, it made sense for me to talk about contemp books. There are some really hyped ones that I have not read yet, which is pretty crazy. I will get to them sometime though...hopefully!

1. The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Kaplinger - I know, I know. I didn't really know much about this book until I started blogging last year, though. I have see tons about it lately because of the movie coming out, but I really do want to read it first. Target has the tie-in edition, and I might actually pick that up because I'm not really a fan of the original cover, either.

2. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick - I own this book, and I have for some time now. In fact, it lived on my nightstand for several months last year as I ran out of space on my bookshelf...yet I still did not pick it up. I really do want to read it, though.

3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - Yeah, I know that this one is bad. I have owned this one for awhile now, too (thank goodness for new cover designs). There is SO much hype about these books that it makes me super nervous to pick them up, though. I really don't want to be let down by them.

4. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West - This is another one that I have heard so many great things about. It seems to be a contemporary book that everyone has read, so I am not sure why I haven't. In fact, I don't even think I own it yet.

5. Just One Day by Gayle Forman - To be fair, I have read If I Stay by Forman, so I think that should get me some sort of credit. Apparently this is another one that I really need to read, based on what everyone has said.

6. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson - This book was such a hit after its release last year, and the premise really does sound great. I don't own this one either, but it's another one that I'm a bit nervous to actually read due to all of the hype.

7. The Summer Series by Jenny Han - Really, this should say "any" book by Jenny Han. How have I not read any of her books yet? I don't know, because I own some of them. There are some wonderful looking covers for the summer series, though. I think they might be the UK edition? I want them!

8. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson - Yup, another Morgan Matson, because I have yet to read anything by her either (what's wrong with me?). I have heard really good things about this one too, so I know I need to read it.

9. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry - Apparently this is a companion series or something? I don't know, but I do know that everyone raves about these books, so obviously I really need to pick them up.

10. Anything by Nicholas Sparks - Yup, I have yet to read any of Spark's books. I have seen some of the movies, but that's obviously not good enough. I know that he is supposed to be really good with contemporaries, but I also know he likes to kill off characters right at the end of things, so I will have to see how that goes!

I need to get to reading!

Blog Tour + Giveaway: The Last Order by Angela Marie Caldwell

The Last Order

by Angela Marie Caldwell 

Release Date: 02/03/15

Publisher: Rocket Circus Press

Summary from Goodreads:

Lana forms a secret order of women knights to fulfill her father’s final request: find the queen who was thought to be dead and return her to the throne.

Lana Crewe is a strong, fiercely driven seventeen year old living in a village ruled by fear. With their king and queen both dead, strife and division have taken hold. Ruthlessly attacked by an Order called Talons, Lana’s father is fatally stabbed. Before he dies, he imparts upon Lana a directive to save the statue of Saint Peter, and tells her that the queen yet lives. Now it is up to Lana to unravel the mystery of Saint Peter and bring an end to all of the war by finding the queen.

A medieval tale of hope and mystery, The Last Order is an action-packed story with one of the strongest female leads since Disney’s “Brave.” Not your average YA novel; The Last Order takes upper teenage angst and spins it on its head. You’ll be gripping this book as hard as it will be gripping you. 

Add to Goodreads

Buy Links:
Amazon

Review: One of my reading goals in 2015 is to really step outside my comfort zone of reading contemporary novels by trying out more of other genres. Fantasy is not something that I read a lot of because I do tend to struggle with some of the concepts found in the books. I can handle a lot of it, but there is always a certain point where things become too unbelievable for me, and I am worried that is going to happen whenever I pick up a new fantasy novel. However, when I got the email for this blog tour I was immediately intrigued by the premise. While I was still a bit nervous and uneasy about trying out another fantasy, I decided to give it a go. If the synopsis already had me fairly hooked, that was obviously a good start.

For the most part, I really did enjoy this book. I thought that it had some great elements of fantasy without going over the top, which is exactly what I needed. The storyline remained believable within the world that Caldwell created, and I think that it is a very important factor to consider and remember when reading books within this genre (I feel science fiction is very much the same, but that's beside the point...) The world building really was quite good. Caldwell used very descriptive and vivid details in order to give the reader information about the living conditions and the world altogether throughout the novel. Still, I do not think that too much time was spent on the world building, either. There was a happy medium in this sense, and that was something that I really did appreciate.

Caldwell did a wonderful job of hooking me from the very beginning. As it says in the synopsis, our protagonist Lana losses her father due to a stab wound, and that happens in the very beginning of the novel. In most books there is always the build up and introduction to the characters and their surroundings, but in The Last Order we are simply thrown into the action and have to catch up as we go. While this might not work well with certain stories, I do think that it was a wonderful addition here. Despite knowing very little about the protagonist, I already had sympathy for her as I read how difficult the loss of her father was. Right away I was on her side, and I think that is very important.

The plot in this book was rather entertaining, and once I was into the story I really did not want to put it down. When I did have to put it down (or more accurately stop reading on my phone because I had other things I had to do, like laundry), I kept thinking about what might possibly happen next and was thrilled when I could finally get back to it. That is always the mark of a good book, in my opinion, when the reader does not want to put it down and then cannot wait to get back to it. 

While this book definitely had its positives, I did have a couple of problems with it as well. The main one was the actual writing itself. There was nothing wrong with it, it just was not quite my style. While Caldwell's writing was good and very descriptive, it was also much choppier than I tend to enjoy reading. I think that it might be that I am just not used to it as a lot of authors can be long winded, and that's just what I have gotten used to. However, I did find myself getting frustrated by it a few times. It certainly did not make it a bad book or take away from the wonderful story, it was just something that I didn't completely love. Other people seem to think it is perfect, so that is simply my personal opinion.

Overall, I did think that this book was incredibly enjoyable, and I was able to get through it in only two days, which is very good for me lately. While I would not usually pick up too many fantasy books on my own, I am glad that I gave this one a try and took the opportunity to read about the world that Caldwell built. If you are a fantasy fan, then I would certainly recommend this book to you.

Rating: 3.0 / 3.0

About the Author

Angela M Caldwell is an author, photographer, and digital filmmaker. She studied video production and photography at Radford Univeristy then relocated to Los Angeles for an adventure. After seven years of city life, she moved back to Virgina.

Angela loves a good story and she has a broad range of likes when it comes to reading. Give her characters that she can root for and take her on an adventure. Angela’s journey back to the written word is a story of its own with dyslexia keeping her from writing for years.

But, she is a storyteller at heart. Through the years, she enjoyed expressing her stories through a variety of forms: photography, painting, music, film-making, and writing.

She lives with her husband and 4 kids, who are her biggest fans. They have one dog, and two cats. Perhaps one day they will have a farm. And her dream of having a horse will be realized.

Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Tumblr

Book Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

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January Wrap Up

• I have decided to do a monthly wrap up on the blog this year. Yay for new features! In my wrap ups I will discuss the books that I read during that month, their ratings, and share links to their reviews if I have already posted them on the blog. I will also share my most popular posts of the month, and anything excited that happened throughout that month. At the end of the post, I will also include posts from other blogs that I enjoyed from the month. Please let me know if you like this kind of wrap up, and if there is anything else you would like to see in the post!

Number of Books Read: 7
Number of Pages Read: 2,224

Thoughts: I am not thrilled with the number of books or pages I read this month as I know I can do a lot better than that, especially with a long month like January. I guess I am still in a bit of a slump, and I am hoping that I can snap out of that completely in February. I have stayed on track with my Goodreads' goal so far, though.

The Books:

1. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer | 452 Pages | Published in 2013 | 5 Stars | My Review
2. The Real Girl's Kitchen by Haylie Duff | 240 Pages | 2013 | 4 Stars | My Review
3. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch | 422 Pages | 2014 | 5 Stars | My Review

 

4. Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas | 289 Pages | 2014 | 5 Stars 

5. Around the Table by Martina McBride | 320 Pages | 2014 | 4 Stars

6. The Problem With Crazy by Lauren K. McKellar | 283 Pages | 2014 | 3 Stars | My Review 

7. Defenseless by Elisa Dane | 219 Pages | 2015 | 5 Stars | My Review

Thoughts: Overall, I am fairly happy with the books that I read this month. I have been in a contemporary kick, as it has always been my favorite genre, so there is no surprise that I read 3 from the genre. I am a big fan of the cookbooks that also give stories and plenty of reading material, and I read 2 of those. I was also happy to have 1 science fiction and 1 fantasy, especially since I barely ever read fantasy. Overall the genre break up for this month seems pretty good.

What Happened This Month? 

• This month meant the end of winter break and going back to work, which means we are in second semester (that much closer to summer break!)
• We celebrated New Year's Eve with family, and it was quite a bit of fun. 
• My Boxing Day Book Outlet order arrived.
• I celebrated turning 25.
• And I hosted my first Author Spotlight post featuring Sara Raasch! 

Most Popular Post of the Month:
1. 25 Books/Series to Read While I'm 25
2. Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Want to Read in 2015
3. Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant to Read but Didn't Get To
4. Top Ten Most Anticipated Debuts of 2015

Awesome Posts From Other Blogs:

• Book Bumblings hosted the January Be A Better Blogger
• Parajunkee also did a 31 Days of Better Blogging
• Stacie and Amanda began their new blog together
• Nosegraze talked about the obligations of book bloggers
• Jessica celebrated her 6th Blogoversary

Well, there is my January for you. Come back later today to see what I plan to read in February (HINT: hopefully a whole lot more than I read in January!)