Flowchart: The Years of my Life (in books)

I really liked Summer"s flowchart and it looked like something fun to do so I created one of my own with all my favourite books over the years. I really had to narrow down all the books I wanted to put on there because there's only so much room on a flowchart and I think I've managed to include only my nine ultimate favourites.

If the ages don't seem right then they probably aren't. My memory really isn't that exact so I sort of had to just guestimate it all a bit.

So without further ado here's my flowchart. (click to enlarge)

I'm curious, did anyone else share the same favourites as me or were yours different? I'd love to know!

Review: Just Like Fate, by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Title: Just Like Fate

Author: Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Genre: Contemporary

Publication Date: August 27, 2013

Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.

Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted.

Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending... -Goodreads

1.5 Stars

Just Like Fate is the equivalent of eating a tub of ice cream all at once and completely regretting it after. 

Right after finishing Just Like Fate, I was ready to write a gushing review on how wonderful of an experience I had while reading this. A few hours later I was mulling over the novel and began to think how completely shallow it felt. So many irrational events occurred in the course of this book that I'm surprised I didn't catch them. It's embarrassing, really, that I had been mindlessly reading this novel without actually thinking of the story-line as a whole.

Sidenote: This goes to show NEVER REVIEW A BOOK RIGHT AFTER YOU FINISH IT.

Interview with Sangu Mandanna, Author of The Lost Girl

Today, I'd like to welcome the amazing Sangu Mandanna, author of The Lost Gitl, to the blog! Her book is a favorite of mine, and I'm so glad the author was able to do a Q & A!

Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Hunt, by Stacey Kade

Hello & welcome to the PROJECT PAPER DOLL: The Hunt blog tour!

By: Stacey Kade
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publication date: April 22, 2014
Series: Project Paper Dolls #2
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life.

But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.

Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?

Excerpt:

He had, however, created through the woods like a herd of drunken deer. Stealth training was not something taught in your average school system. But lucky, lucky me, I'd been enrolled in some "special" extracurriculars during my time with my father.

Review: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

I don't normally review classics, but here goes.

Here in the US, I'm fairly sure the works of the Bronte sisters are commonly dubbed as required reading alongside other classics, and for this reason are unjustly spared with naught but a single glance by young adult readers.

Stacking the Shelves (13)

Last week I went to the LA Times FOB (you can check out the post here) and I bought a ton of books!

LA Times Festival of Books Recap

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of going to the LA Times Festival of Books for my upcoming Sweet Sixteen, and I had an ah-mazing time. Not only that, but the next day I got to meet Laini Taylor at a book signing at my local Barnes and Noble! 

When we first got to the festival, we saw this huuuge line filled with people holding copies of TFiOS and other John Green books; it was no other than JG himself signing. I didn't actually get to meet him because the line was just endless. But, we did pass by and my cousin got a slightly creepy picture of him.

JG signing his book (I'm sure his hand was killing him)

Review: Time After Time, by Wendy Godding

Title: Time After Time
Author: Wendy Godding
Genre: YA Paranormal/Historical Fiction
Publication Date: April 1, 2014

She has died countless times before, and she is not going to let it happen again.

Abbie Harper dies just before her eighteenth birthday. It has happened before, more times than she can remember — and always at the hands of the same man. Her dreams are plagued with past lives, cut short.

But this latest dream feels different. Her past life as Penelope Broadhurst — an English pastor’s daughter in 1806 — keeps bleeding into her present life in ways both sinister and familiar. As Penelope meets and falls in love with the dashing Heath Lockwood, so too does Abbie meet the brothers Marcus and Rem Knight. One wants to love her; the other to kill her.
Time is running out for Penelope, but as Abbie mourns her inability to change the past, she chases the slim chance to save her future. To survive, she must solve the puzzle of an ancient love story…and Penelope just might be able to help. -Goodreads

1 Star

*Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.*

When I see this book:

This book was horrible. It epitomized the word horrible.

Review: Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor and Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Pub. Date: February 26, 2013
Genre: YA Romance, Contemporary

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. -Goodreads

5 Stars

There are certain books out there that you just put your entire life on hold to finish; you don't socialise, you get very little sleep and any other work you were supposed to do is left undone. If you suffer from these symptoms then you are most likely reading a very good book and I can assure you all that Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is most definitely a good book!

Flowchart: So You Wanna Read YA Historical Fiction?

I'm not the best in graphics, but I've (somehow) created a flow chart composed of GOOD (at least in my opinion) young adult historical fiction novels. It's categorized by country, time period, or sub-genre, and hopefully it's not too straining on the eye.

So... I sort of stole the idea from Vulture's YA Novel Flowchart, but I narrowed it down to historical fiction, being that it is my favorite genre. I've read pretty much everything included in this flowchart, save for a couple.

Even if you aren't the biggest fan of historical fiction, I'm sure any one of these books will captivate you and trap you inspire you to read more books of this genre!

Ignorance of the YA Genre.

Recently, I came across an article that made my blood boil. Said article is THIS, in which Chloe Grace Moretz, the actress playing Mia in the If I Stay movie adaptation, talks crap about the young adult genre. I'm sure many of us have encountered this insulting article, and I'm here to state my opinion.

We have all come across those people. I'm referring to those judgemental, stereotyping, pretentious snobs who think "true" literature is limited only to literary fiction. Other genres are deemed "unworthy" and have "no true literary value." What. What. *punches wall*