Waiting On Wednesday | 10

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, which features upcoming releases that I am anticipating the most. There are so many good books coming out, but here is what I am obsessing over at the moment:

Amazon | Goodreads
March 21, 2013

Margo McKenna has a plan of attack for everything, from landing the lead in her high school musical to dealing with her increasingly absent parents. But when she finds herself in possession of a genie's ring and the opportunity to make three wishes, she doesn't know what to do. Especially since Oliver--not blue-skinned, not bottle-dwelling, but a genie nonetheless--can see more than what she's willing to show him. With one peek into her mind, he can see the wishes that even Margo herself doesn't know she wants.

But Oliver comes with more than just mind-reading abilities, a flair for magic, and the prettiest eyes Margo's ever seen. Someone from his past is hunting him--someone bent on killing him, along with all the other genies in the world, for the sake of honor. And as Margo soon discovers, it will take more than three wishes to save him.

A whole lot more.

Amazon | Goodreads

April 2, 2013

Government attempts to save endangered bees by genetic modification causes their sting to induce deadly, flu-like symptoms in humans. A vaccine created in response changes children into ferocious, killer beasts. The uninfected have built a wall to keep the beasts out, & a girl has awakened on the wrong side.

Why I Can't Wait To Read These

The Art of Wishing just sounds so cute! I haven't read a book about a genie yet, though I know I have a couple on my TBR list. I'd like to give it a shot!

Stung just sounds like the coolest thing ever! That synopsis is short, but as soon as I read it I was drooling over the thought of getting to read it. A girl trapped in the wilds with a crap-load of mutant killer children?  I want this in my hands, STAT!!! The only depressing thing is knowing that it won't come out until next year....

What releases are you guys looking forward to?

{Week Two} Pushing The Limits Read-A-Long

1) Noah and Echo create a plan to read their files. What do you think of this plan? Would you read your friend's file first knowing you might not have time to read your own? Would you want to read your own file?

I can say right now that I'm too much of a chicken to even think of doing something like that, so I'm not crazy about that plan. I would for sure read my friend's file first, if the situation ever arised, because as I said, I wouldn't be too keen on the idea in the first place, so if it's more important to my friend, then sure, I'd put them first.

2) Mrs. Collin's starts to earn Noah's trust by taking him to see his brother win a writing contest. What do you think of how she's handling Noah? How would you feel if you were in Noah's position, hearing that your brother sees you as his hero?

I think she's "handling" him great - she's doing what she can to ensure he see's his brothers more, and that particular visit really helped him to see that his brother's love him just as much as he loves them. If I were in Noah's position, I'd feel very touched, and also proud.

3) Echo is starting to draw and paint again. She's starting to express her feelings as she remembers what happened that day. Art therapy seems to be a popular way for people to deal with their feelings. Why do you think Echo's dad didn't want her to continue with art since it was such a big part of her, and is part of so many people's therapy in dealing with similar issues?

Echo's dad seems torn about whether or not he wants Echo to really remember what had happened that day. He mistakenly seems to think he's doing what's best for her by controlling her class schedule and extracurricular activities.

4) We see how crazy Beth's home life is and we start to understand why she is not as keen to be trusting with people in her life. At the same time, we get to see how fiercely loyal Noah is. What do you think of the way Noah reacted to Beth being beaten by her mother's boyfriend? Do you it's showing bad behavior that could get Noah in more trouble or the act of a true friend?

Noah's a great friend in that he truly cares about his friends, but he was acting off his emotions at the time, rather than with his head. It was a stupid move, in that getting caught would probably have kept him from seeing his brothers again, but you can't really blame him. Still, I wish he would have just called the cops on that douche-bag instead.

5) Echo has an unusual name. What do you think of the story behind it? Is there a Greek myth or other story that would inspire you to name a child after a character?

I think she has an awesome name - and I liked hearing about the story behind it! Granted, it was a rather depressing story, what with Echo losing her voice and being forced to only repeat others, but it was unique. I haven't come across any particular names in Greek mythology that I'd care to name a kid after. In books, I do love the name Hermione, but I don't think I'd be able to use that name for a kid, as it'll probably just cause a lot of rolled eyes.

6) Echo's big thing is trying to find "normal" again. She doesn't want to be the scared girl or the girl who can't remember what happened to her, she just wants to be normal. This goal impacts her relationship with her family, friends, Noah and her ex, Luke. But at the end of this section, Echo is starting to figure out that there's no going back to old normal and she's going to have to find a new normal. How big of a step is it for Echo when she realizes she's not "in" love with Luke and figures out that she does need to find a new normal?

I was so happy when she finally figured this out! She was really starting to get on my nerves a bit. It was an extremely important realization, and pretty much changed her whole course in life. No more acting shallow!

{Day 3} Summer Wrap-up Read-a-Thon

Hosted by Jude @ In Between and Jennifer @ Some Like It Paranormal

Okay, haven't really done an update post yet, as I've been too busy lately. I hate to say that I haven't read that much, either. So far, here is my progress:

Finished Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry (4/5 stars)

Page 146 of 428 on Hero by Perry Moore

Cover Love Challenge

Emily @ Falling for YA says: "Show me the covers of one or more books released during the summer that you love." So, here are some of my favorite covers:

Summer Vacations Challenge

Shae @ Understanding Shae's Story says: "Just tell me your ideal vacation inside a certain book!"

My ideal book vacation would be going on my own tour of Hogwarts, followed by a visit to Hogsmeade and later, Diagon Alley. I can't express how badly I would want for this to happen!

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Amazon | Goodreads

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again. 

I knew I had to read this one when I kept seeing rave reviews about it around the blogosphere. At first glance, I had originally thought it would just be another cheesy YA romance novel, but this book ended up surprising me at its depth. I loved how it was told in alternating viewpoints, switching between Echo and Noah each chapter. The last book I read that did this was Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles - another book the alternating points-of-view worked well for.

In fact, I think that giving us a glimpse at both Echo's and Noah's thoughts is what made me love this novel so much. Both were complex characters, and if their stories had been told from only one or the other's thoughts, so much would have been left out, and this book would have had less of an impact on me, and probably on its readers. So, on to the lead characters:

Echo

I thought Echo was actually pretty cool. Her back-story is what really kept things interesting. She hides her arms, which are covered completely in scars, and she goes to counseling so that she could try and remember how she got them. The trauma of the event that caused them had been too much for her mind to handle, and her mind blocked it from her memory. Even though it soon became pretty obvious what had happened to her, I still enjoyed reading about her discoveries. I felt that at the end of the novel, she had grown a whole lot, and gained a lot of courage and independence.

Noah
Noah's issue was that his parents died in a house fire, and he had been passed around from foster home to foster home, unable to see his two younger brothers unsupervised due to an incident in which he had punched his first foster father in the face. All Noah wanted was to get custody of his little brothers. I really liked him, but one thing that was very apparent was that Noah was written by a female author. There were some moments when I'd feel like swooning, sure, but there were also many where I was thinking to myself, "What guy thinks like this?!" I mean, he thought of Echo as his siren and his nymph, and many of the thoughts in his mind were extremely cheesy and sounded like they were written solely to appeal to the female readers. If the author could have toned down a bit in that area, I would have enjoyed reading it a whole lot more, instead, I found myself cringing in embarrassment. Not all the romance was mushy, but a good chunk of it was.

Overall Thoughts
Despite Noah's cheesy romance-novel thoughts, I liked his character, and Echo's as well - they were pretty fleshed-out. Even the side characters were interesting. I felt that the story was paced well, and found myself breezing through the chapters effortlessly. The transformation of both Echo and Noah was something I enjoyed reading about, and I found myself growing a little attached. With this debut novel, McGarry has caught my attention, and I look forward to reading more of her work (which, I am excited to find, includes an upcoming novel about one of the side-characters, Beth!). If you enjoy reading novels about people overcoming their pasts, then I recommend this one. It lives up to all the good reviews about it, despite being a bit sappy with the romance.

(Okay, I'm sure I'll be reading this again, I'm a sucker for romance,
but I just can't shell out the 5th star... )

In My Mailbox | 11

Okay, so both In My Mailbox and Stacking The Shelves are memes where you feature the books you got in the past week, so I figure, why not link to both? I didn't do this meme last week, so these books are actually all the books I got in the past two weeks:

Books I Bought From Amazon

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Books I Won

The Zenith by Duong Thu Huong (ARC)

Won on Goodreads. Thanks goes to Viking Books.

Outpost by Ann Aguirre (ARC)

Won from publisher. Thanks goes to Feiwal & Friends at Macmillan.

Invisible City, Ice Shock, and Zero Moment by M.G. Harris

Won on Facebook. Thanks goes to Bloomsbury Teens.

For Review

Cruel Harvest: A Memoir by Fran Elizabeth Grubb

Received hardcover via BookSneeze

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Received ebook via NetGalley

Summer Wrap-up Read-a-Thon

Hosted by Jude @ In Between and Jennifer @ Some Like It Paranormal

Another read-a-thon! Okay, so it seems like I signed up for this one last minute, and that's because I did, haha! But at any rate, I thought I would write an intro post so that you guys would know what's up. For those of you interested, this read-a-thon lasts from August 4th-12th, which is actually a pretty lengthy time. This is good, because you don't have to focus on reading non-stop, you can take your time if you'd like. In case you feel like signing up, you can do so here. So, here are the books I would like to read during this time:

   

  

The top three books I already started, and would like to finish. The last two on the bottom row are books I received for review from Netgalley. The Kite Runner is a library book, but I'm thinking that one may take a while, as it seems like a rather "heavy" book (not length-wise, but subject-wise). Of course, the books I end up reading are subject to change, so stay tuned for my updates post!

Follow Friday | 06

Follow Friday, or Feature & Follow, is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The premise is for bloggers to get to know more about other bloggers, and to keep in touch with each other while also discovering new blogs. A little tweak to the rules: if you aren't a follower, please don't feel obligated to follow my blog just because I've followed yours - I'd rather you follow because you actually enjoy my posts. In return, I'd like to be offered the same courtesy. This week's question:

Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

I have to be in the mood to read a certain book. Even if it's a book I've been wanting to read for a long time, if I don't feel like reading it at a given moment, I'll wait until I am. But as for particular moods, rather than certain genres, I do have certain go-to books that I read when I'm feeling sick or depressed, and they'll either cheer me up, or keep my mind occupied on them for a good while. Those books are my old familiar favorites, such as:

The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

The Secret Society Girl Series by Diana Peterfreund

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

I am a re-reader, and I've read those series enough that they're now comforting to me. I also enjoy reading quirky romances when I'm in a really happy mood, and scary stories when it's storming, because I like freaking myself out. I don't read when I'm angry, I listen to music while pacing back and forth. How can I read if I'm feeling pissed off about something? Nope, only music works there. How about you guys?