-Waiting on Wednesday- 26: Over You by Amy Reed

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Over You by Amy Reed

Max would follow Sadie anywhere, so when Sadie decides to ditch her problems and escape to Nebraska for the summer, it’s only natural for Max to go along. She is Sadie’s confidante, her protector, and her best friend. This summer will be all about them. This summer will be perfect.But that’s before they meet Dylan.Dylan is dangerous and intoxicating, and he awakens something in Max that she never knew existed. No matter how much she wants to, she can’t back away.But Sadie has her own intensity, and has never allowed Max to become close with anyone else. And Max doesn’t know who she is without Sadie.There are some problems you just can’t escape.

I've read Clean and Beautiful by Amy Reed and she writes contemporary stories like no other author can-- her stories are raw and emotional, as well as so addictive! She is an awesome author who writes great books about touchy subjects that are important to our society.

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{Review} The Stone Girl by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Release Date: 28 August 2012

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: eGalley

Pages: 224

Rating:  5- Wonderful

She feels like a creature out of a fairy tale; a girl who discovers that her bones are really made out of stone, that her skin is really as thin as glass, that her hair is brittle as straw, that her tears have dried up so that she cries only salt. Maybe that's why it doesn't hurt when she presses hard enough to begin bleeding: it doesn't hurt, because she's not real anymore.Sethie Weiss is hungry, a mean, angry kind of hunger that feels like a piece of glass in her belly. She’s managed to get down to 111 pounds and knows that with a little more hard work—a few more meals skipped, a few more snacks vomited away—she can force the number on the scale even lower. She will work on her body the same way she worked to get her perfect grades, to finish her college applications early, to get her first kiss from Shaw, the boy she loves, the boy who isn’t quite her boyfriend.Sethie will not allow herself one slip, not one bad day, not one break in concentration. Her body is there for her to work on when everything and everyone else—her best friend, her schoolwork, and Shaw—are gone. 

My Thoughts:

The Stone Girl tells the story about a girl; Sethie, who constantly watches her weight, does things she shouldn’t do and has a supposed boyfriend who uses her for nothing but mere sex. The Stone Girl is a compelling story about a topic that many teenagers may go through.

Sethie was an interesting character to read about as she was such a good student and did all her work, which was admirable. Yet underneath it all, she was constantly watching her weight and comparing herself to other girls, and she did things that one would not expect from a consciences student such as Sethie. Sethie, to me, did not seem like the kind of character that would do the things she does in the book because her thoughts seem to be that of an innocent girl, but all in all; this made for an even more interesting character. As for Shaw, Sethie’s “boyrfriend” of sorts; I wanted to punch him in the face because of all the horrible things he did to Sethie!

I think that this book will be very easy for anyone to relate to as we all wish that we could look a little different—prettier or handsomer. We are never satisfied with our looks and I think that this book proves that we need to embrace what we look like and just enjoy life.

Whenever I sat down to read this book I always seemed to be hungry and my stomach seemed to growl each time Sethie mentioned food and the amount of calories the food may contain. It only made this book even better for me, as I got to experience what Sethie was feeling when she would starve herself for a few hours—on a smaller scale of course.

I found the scenes where Sethie cut herself or picked at her scabs to be incredibly creepy and I was kind of grossed out, but I think that in the context of the story, as well as in the context of her thoughts; it makes the story even more emotional.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotion that was completely enthralling and so very emotional, The Stone Girl is both haunting and beautiful and I loved this book, the message is truly beautiful.

Website | Goodreads

| Amazon |

-Review- Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Speechless by Hannah Harrington
Release Date: 28 August 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: eGalley

Pages: 288

Purchase: Book Depository | Amazon

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret
Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.
Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.
But there's strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

The first time saw the cover, I did not know what to say. I was Speechless and did not get why the cover was so plain at first. After reading the book I completely thought I had the cover figured out; my opinion relates the cover to the story. The cover is so plain because not using words in order to hurt others, or even using them may not cause problems. The cover is clutter free and uncomplicated, without words there is nothing. I know see that the cover speaks volumes and that it is going to look great on the actual copy.

Speechless follows a sixteen year old girl named Chelsea, we witness her fall from popularity and follow her through her vow of silence. When she becomes an outcast I could instantly feel the change in status and felt that Chelsea changed as a person completely, which lead me to question whether or not people that are popular are fake or are they genuinely like that. In Chelsea’s case it appeared to have all been an act in order to fit in.

This book carries many important messages about several issues and one of them that stood out the most to me was verbal bullying. Chelsea’s vow of silence lead me to question whether or not I had ever hurt someone with my words; the answer—many times. This book made me feel bad about some of the things I may have said in the past.

I have come to realise that words hurt. Speechless taught me that physically bullying someone may cause temporary pain and one can heal, but words remain with people and they can ruin someone’s life. I’m sure all of us have been verbally bullied at sometime in our lives, I can admit that I have and the feeling afterwards is not the best feeling in the world and Speechless was definitely relatable to me.

As soon as Chelsea took her vow of silence, I was so into the book that I too thought I could not speak. I lasted all of ten minutes due to my surroundings, but thought that this book was incredibly interesting as this was something original and new to me.

Harrington’s writing is simple and addictive. I was hooked the entire time by this riveting tale she was telling and I cannot wait to read more from her. Speechless was a life-lesson-filled book that I could not put down. I hope that many people read this book because the message is so important. 

-Waiting on Wednesday- 25: The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.  Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive. 
Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.  In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

I recently watched a vlog that Victoria did on "wordsmiths" and I agreed with most of her choices, she was able to pin-point what it was that made these other author's books so great and that got me thinking about what her writing was like. As soon as I saw the Sneak Peek of this book on Netgalley; I requested it and let me tell you-- this book is going to be extremely awesome and I think that Victoria will surprise many readers!
What are you Waiting on this Wednesday?
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-Top Ten Tuesday- 12

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish. It was created due to their love of lists.

This weeks topic is: "Top Ten Favorite Books You've Read During The Lifespan Of Your Blog"

In no particular order:

1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

2. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

3. Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

4. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

5. Wither by Lauren DeStefano

6. Fever by Lauren DeStefano

7. Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

8. Entangled by Cat Clarke

9. Torn by Cat Clarke

10. Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Comment below and leave a link to your Top Ten Tuesday posts below and I'll be sure to check them out!

-Review- Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett
Release Date: 28 August 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen 

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: eGalley

Pages: 272

Purchase: Book Depository | Amazon

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some CONFESSIONS to make... #1: I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate, don't you?#2: I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who "might" be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.#3: High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry-get it?)Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable. (Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.) (Sorry. That was rude.)

Confessions of an Angry Girl is about a young girl named Rosie, who happens to have a best friend who is only concerned about her sex life and popularity, and an enemy who rules the school. Not to mention the fact that Rosie’s father just passed away—life is not easy for her. With so much going; I completely understand why she is a seemingly angry girl. Confessions of an Angry girl is a book that made me incredible happy at times and others, it completely tore me apart.

Despite this being an eGalley; I was hooked right from the beginning by the cover and that layout of the book. The galley had a plain, yet interesting design. Another awesome thing about this book was that each chapter had a definition of a word, which I thought was quite clever due to the fact that at the end of the blurb for the book there are several large words that one may not understand, below it, it says that the reader should look the words up! I love how that kind of thing was tied into the book.

Rozett’s writing style is simple yet I found that it made the story even more riveting in some way; I was hooked. Rosie was an awesome character in my opinion that made the story all the more believable; she was the best “average girl” character that I have ever read about. Rosie in some way was a damaged character who hid what was really happening on the inside and it made the story seem more realistic(although it was a contemporary book), because that is something we all tend to do in real life.

Confessions of an Angry Girl was a touching story. Rozett did not shy away from topics that need to be addressed; such as teenage sex and underage drinking. I think that these topics should be raised, just as they were in this book as it provides insight into some of the issues teenagers may be facing today. I as a teenager appreciate this book due to the lessons that can be learnt from it, even though these certain topics have been drilled into my brain from an early age.

Although this book may have seemed like it revolved around teenage urges, I felt that there was an underlying message. In this book some bullying does take place and that helps to clarify the message, you do not need to conform to what society wants you to be and you do not need to feel the pressure to do things you may not necessarily want to do, from your peers.

Another thing that I absolutely loved was the fact that Rosie and I had similar taste in music, I am a huge Florence + the Machine fan and I enjoyed the fact that there were quite a few references to musical artists.

I loved this book and cannot wait for the second book! I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a well written contemporary novel that will tear you apart and have you addicted right off the bat!

-Feature & Follow- 6

Feature and Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to connect book bloggers; in turn allowing them to connect with other readers, gain new followers and most of all to be social in order to make some new friends. This meme is hosted byParajunkee & Alison Can Read.

Q: What blogger inspires you? It can be any kind, it doesn’t have to be a book blog.

A: Pugly Pixel inspired me because I've always struggled with a design for my blog and I've learned a lot from her blog about design.

Happy Friday!