Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

4 out of 5 stars

"Don't worry, Anna. I'll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won't say anything?"
"Don't worry." I laughed. "It's our secret, right?"

According to Anna's best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie-she's already had her romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

- Book Flap

If you are looking for a book the plays with your heartstrings, then this book is definitely the book to read. This book is sad and wonderful and based on what you have to do when you lose someone and don't exactly know what to do. Anna needs her questions answered. The questions surronding her romance with Matt: what really happened, was he just messing with her, what would have happened if she told him that she didn't want ice cream( you'll find out), and what would have happened if she told him that she loved him.
This book made me cry, though that could have just been me, and it also made me laugh because there was so many things that sounded a little bit like my life even if I didn't have someone so close to me pass yet.
I recommend this book to anyone who would love a good tearjerker no matter what age they are.

Buh Bye,

Grey

Abandon by Meg Cabot

3 out of 5 stars

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

- Amazon.com description

Abandon is a book that is really gripping and extremely interesting. It took a little to get into, but for me that means nothing because it's just the first in a series. If it was a stand-alone book, though, I would have totally ditched it.

Though it is not told exactly like the Greek myth of Persephone, Hades, and Demeter, there is the constant flashbacks of it. Such as: how Peirce really wants to let her mom know that she is okay, and Peirce looks especially pretty which is why Hades kidnapped Persephone, but that didn't happen to Peirce, yet.

There is, also, the twists to it. Like the necklace. I love where she got the necklace, it was all Meg Cabot. From the dead Queen of France, to the warehouse where all the jewels were held. There was nothing really resolved in the story except discovering what part she plays in the story. And nothing really happened until the end.

At the beginning I was questioning the "incident" and the "accident" and what "him" had to do with them, while in the midlle of the story I was questioning where this was going and what the plot was. I cannot wait to read the second book, Underworld, which is out in 2012, and find all the answers to the questions that are so myraid that I won't allow myself to type them. Sorry for the discombobulation of this post!

Buh Bye,

Grey

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levitan Review

4.5 out of 5 stars

I've left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you dont, put the book back on the shelf, please.

So begins the lastest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash the right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as weel as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love stroy that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love ( and a red notebook) of their own.

- Book Flap

Dash and Lily seem like complete opposites of each other, save for their love of books and the Strand, though this book was a luxury to read. I loved the idea of picking up a book on the shelf of my absolute favorite author and corresponding with a person who shares the same veiws as I do and just talking with them while doing dares that I otherwise would not even have thought about.
The character developement was great to me, even the two-dimensional characters, such as Boomer, who I absitively posolutely fell IN LOVE with.
So scrutinize those bookshelves very carefully because there just might be your own red moleskin book.......

Buh Bye,

Grey

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kandare Blake

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to shine a spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

-Amazon.com description


Anna Dress in Blood is a book that I have been coveting after because I have never seen a highly appraised YA fiction book about ghosts.

I have yet to hear anything bad about this book and have been trying each and every way to try and get my hands on this spine-tingling cover.

What I really am looking forward to in this book is every single ghost story and especially the story of Anna Dressed in Blood. Can't wait to read this book cover to cover!


Buh Bye,
Grey

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams, Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen...

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…
-Amazon.com description
Born at Midnight is a book that I have been trying to find so that I may read it, of course. What I really look forward in this book, when I get it, is that sense of finding out why she belongs there and descovering her past. Especially discovering her past because I am a big ancestry fan of almost anyone.
I am waiting in foreboding to reading this book and expecting what I read in the summary of the book.

Buh Bye,
Grey

P.S. If you have read and loved Born at Midnight, then click on this link to read a short story called Turned at Dark.

The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols Review

3 out of 5 stars

Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends -- including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.
But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.
But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard....
-Amazon.com description
This book was summer-liscious! Making me want to swim all day and at the same time have an ice cold drink at my side while reading this book.
There is some romance, but I especially loved how there was swimming and partying and just having fun in the sun--everything that could make your summer summer!
Suprise suprise! This book was just as great as any other book by Jennifer Echols. I am trying to find the second book which is also paired with the first book called Endless Summer because I hear that it is as excellent as the first. I will prevail!

Buh Bye,

Grey

The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter Review

3 out of 5 stars

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.
-Amazon.com description
This book, followed closely by the releases of Abandoned and Starcrossed, was the first modern take on a greek myth. I would love any book that even had an ounce of greek myths in it, so this book was perfect for me.
Though I thought Kate agreed with the bargain to help her mother too soon, I would probably do the same for anyone who is in my family or is one of my closest friends.
My favorite part of the plot, from my point of view, is that Kate had to be the one wearing the pants in the relationship of her and Henry and was proud to be helping Henry out. And for the strong heroine, I forgive the hastiness of the story.


Buh Bye,
Grey