Waiting on Wednesday {13}

So this week on waiting on Wednesday I am going to show you a book that I literally can not wait for!!!!

I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW MUCH I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK!!!!!

I think I will be in line at the book store waiting for this on the day it is released.....I am just saying....

What are you waiting for?

:)

Tune in Tuesday {29}

Hello everyone! It is time for another great and fun filled Tune in Tuesday!

This week I am going to tell you about on of the best songs that I have heard this week.  I have been spending a lot of time in my car lately and I just can not get enough of this song! I should really look and find out if they are coming around here anytime soon!

Ladies and Gents....

I know what you are thinking....Really Laci, really.... And the answer is yes really!

:)

Glee Song of the Week {29}

Wow, it has been a crazy week.  But I am back and in full swing.  And just in time for an awesome GLEE episode!!!

This episode looks amazing!  I can not wait to watch it in full....follow me on Twitter for updates during the episode...@lovepassionbook.

The past episode of glee some really great songs on it but this one is my favorites!!!

Enjoy!

okay maybe another...

:)

Review: Cinder

Cinder

By:  Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 390

Release Date: January 3, 2012

Source: ARC given for review

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

I heard some really great things about this book that I knew when it came out I had to get my hands on it.  When I was at NCTE I was excited that they had it there!!!  I had to read it, and I am glad that I did.  You meet Cinder and she is a mechanic in New Beijing.  She is the best mechanic for miles, and everyone knows it. But see Cinder is in a high demand because she lives in a time where there are humans, cyborgs, and androids.  One day the Prince comes to her with his assistant, who is an android, who needs to be fixed.  This is where it all begins!  During the whole story you know that something is up between them two, but you just do not know what.  And the end....I did not see that end coming.  Maybe I was just not watching out for it, but I was such a surprise.

Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella.  Cinder has a stepmother that hates her, stepsisters that just want to make their mother happy, and a Prince that wants her and she doesn't know why.  I mean he is the Prince!  He could have anyone, but her wants her.  The main thing that is holding her back is that she is not human....and the Prince is.  That could be hard for anyone.  Even in this day and age it is hard to accept change.  This is change in their world.

My favorite part of the book is when Cinder goes to the party.  The writing in this scene was amazing.  Marissa Meyer did a great job describing what was going on.  Marissa Meyer is brilliant! She did such an amazing job.  This book was one of the best books that I have read this year!


My Rating:






I am giving this book 4 out 5 stars!  

Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire

By: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 391

Release Date: September 1, 2009

Source: Gift from Secret Santa! :)

Goodreads Synopsis:  

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster children for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol... -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

 First and for most I have to tell you that the synopsis does not do justice for this book.  When I first read the synopsis I could not figure out why everyone was ranting and raving about these books.  One of my friends would ask me every time I saw her if I read them yet.  I would tell her no not yet but I will very soon.  I am so sad that I waited so long!!!

Katniss is back and she is living at Victor's Village with her family and Peeta.  She doesn't know what to do because she is supposed to be madly in love with Peeta but Gale is showing feelings toward her.  I don't know about her, but I would jump on Gale like no other.  I mean this is the guy who has been there for everything!  They are best friends!  UGH!  Any way she has to go back on tour for the Hunger Games and she really just wants it to be done and over.  President Snow makes a surprise visit to her to tell her that she will be with Peeta and not with Gale.  He tells her that she will marry Peeta!  What do you do now....she has to portray this image that she is madly in love with Peeta.  Which she is in love with Peeta but there is Gale.....  What to do, what to do..

Well it is the year of the 75th Hunger Games and that means that it is not just any other Hunger games, it is Quarter Quell.  Every 25 years it is a special Hunger Games.  There is basically no rules if you really think about.  And this year to the Capitol is special.  This year is going to the game of games.  This year all the previous victors are going back to the area.  I personally could not believe it.  I never saw this coming.  This is what I thought was going to happen in Catching Fire:

Katniss was going to go back to District Twelve and she was going to live in Victor's Village with Peeta.  About a year down the line she was going to make it perfectly clear to Peeta that she loves Gale and she wants to be with him.  The Capitol was not going to like it, but they don't own her anymore so what could they do.  She was going to have a decent life in District Twelve with Gale.  They were then going to have kids, and when there kids were old enough they were going to have to go into the arena.   

Boy was I wrong.  This book had so many twist and turns it was unbelievable.  I could not put it down.  It had everything you would want in a book and more!  Thank you Suzanne Collins for one amazing read!  YOU ARE THE BEST!  Now on to book 3!

My Rating:

I am giving this book 5 out 5 stars!   

Review: Dead to you

Dead to you

By: Lisa McMann

Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Pages: 256

Release Date: February 7, 2012

Source: ARC given for review

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together. But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable... -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

Where do I even begin to tell you how much I love Lisa McMann! I first fell in love with her writing when I read Wake, Fade, and Gone earlier this year.  They were some of the best books that I read last year.  I loved the writing style, characters, and everything about he stories.  It really sucks you in.  Then she did it again....she wrote Cryer's Cross!  I couldn't believe it.  She sucked me in again with a whole different story! WOW Lisa McMann, boy did you do it again with Dead to you!

You meet Ethan.  Ethan was abducted from the front of his house when he was seven.  He got into the back seat of a stranger's car while him and his four year old brother watched.  I could not imagine how that must have felt to see that at such a young age and not be able to do anything about it.  Well it is now nine years later and Ethan is back home with his family.  He found them....online.  He goes back and tries to pick up where they left off nine years prior.  There he finds out a lot about his family that he now had that he did not know exists.  Like he now has a six year old sister and at first doesn't like him but now loves him to death.  And how there is a girl who was his best friend is still waiting for him.  But there is one thing that he just can't understand....why he can't remember his life before the abduction.  

Some children that are abducted go through a series of traumatizing events that they block certain things out. This is one of these times.  Ethan just can't understand why he can't remember.  But he is not the only one.  Everyone else wants to know why doesn't remember too, mainly his brother Blake.  

I LOVED THIS BOOK!  I think this is one of my favorite books from Lisa McMann.  She writes some of the best books ever!  If someone is looking for a great book that is also a easy read, I would totally recommend this book to them.....I have. :)  All of her books are amazing!  They have action, suspense, twist and turns, and love.  It is truly everything that you need in a book!  

Thank you Lisa McMann, you have done it again!  You are an amazing author.  You have a true talent and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

My Rating:

I am giving this book 5 out 5 stars!

GLEE SONG OF THE WEEK {28}

IT'S TUESDAY AND GLEE IS BACK!!!

I hope you enjoy tonight episode!  I know I will!

And now my favorite song!

Tune in Tuesday {28}

YAY!!! It is TUESDAY!  And it is going to be a great day because GLEE IS BACK!!!  But that is a whole different post! :)

This post we are going to talk about a great song that I literally can not get out of my head!

I really do not know why I have this song stuck in my head...but oh well :)

Enjoy

Review: One for the money

One for the Money

By: Janet Evanovich

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Pages: 320

Release Date: January 1, 2005

Source: Gift from my sister :)

Goodreads Synopsis:  

Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man. -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

Why is it that when people tell me that I should read a book, I take forever to read it.  And when I do read them they are beyond good.  This book is defiantly one of those books.  My sister would hound me about reading this book.  She would tell me about these books that are just plain amazing.  Well she was right. 

You meet Stephanie.  Stephanie had it all.  She had the job, the house, the car, and the money.  Well then out of nowhere she loses everything and she is going to her parents for help.  Her parents are trying to be supportive but also they want her to find something so she can pay her bills.  So she goes to her cousin Vinnie and starts working for his bail bond business.  There she is given the chance to get some money by bringing in a fugitive.  But it is not everything that it is cracked up to be.  She encounters a lot of problems along the way.  But she overcomes them to a point.  

I loved this book.  It has everything that a fictional book like this should have.  It was action packed with suspense, love, and energy.  It really keeps you going and wanting more.  I would defiantly recommend this book to anyone that wants a quick easy read that keeps you wanting it time and time again.

My Rating:

I am giving this book 4 out 5 stars.   

In My Mailbox {13}

It is time for another great edition of In My Mailbox!  In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! 

I received some really awesome books this week.  Even some really great ones from Kristi herself!  I bought some from her to benefit her cousin Kaylea. I thought it was a great cause and a great way to get some really great books.  

I received Incarnate, Slide, and The List from the publisher at NCTE.  

The Future of us

Blue Bloods Key to the Respiratory , Illusions, and Truth I received from Kristi! THANK YOU SO MUCH :)

And because I just did not have enough to read...:)....I bought XVI, Envy, Splendor, and Rumors!

So I had a pretty decent week. I defiantly have a lot to read which is good because I am trying to move and buy a house so I am putting my self on a book buying ban until that happens.  I will only buy books that I have to go to book signings.  I think this will be good for me and my family! :)

Well what did you get in your mailbox????

TGIF at GReads! {9}

Hello again!  It is time for another fun filled TGIF at GReads!

2012 Must Reads: Which books are at the top of your list 

to be read this year (new or old releases)?

I have a lot of books that I am dying to read.

Plus many many more!!!

I have a long year ahead of me....but I can not wait!!! :)

Review: Everneath

Everneath

By: Brodi Ashton

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 384

Release Date: January 24, 2012

Source: ARC given for review

Goodreads Synopsis:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. 

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. 

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. 

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's... -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

I received this book from the publisher at NCTE.  I actually was really happy when they gave me this book because I heard some really great things about the book at the time.   I could not wait until I was able to sit and enjoy this book.

You meet Nikki Beckett.  She is a high school girl who vanishes from her family.  But it is not like a kidnapping or a run away.  She is taken to the underworld.  She is sent there for 100 years but them brought back to Earth for 6 months to say goodbye to her family and friends forever.  During this time, she falls back in love with her former boyfriend.  This is something that she did not want to happen, because she did not want to hurt him any more then she already has.  But some of the things that is happening, shows her that she wants to be with him.  But the ruler of the underworld, Cole, wants Nikki to rule beside him.  And he will do anything in his power to make this happen.

I really enjoyed this book.  I love Greek mythology. I love the love, action, and heart felt stories that go along with it.  And this book had just that.  I loved that you didn't need to know the Greek Mythology story to understand what was happening, the taught you the story along the way. Sometimes you need that.  Sometimes it helps the story out.  

I am going to tell everyone about this book.  I think that everyone should read this book.  It has everything that this type of book needs!  On the back of the book it says that it is "A captivating story of love, loss, and immortality."  I think that this is the best way to describe this book.  

My Rating:

I am giving this book 5 out 5 stars.  It is defiantly in the running for book of the year.

Review: Lovetorn

Lovetorn

By: Kavita Daswani

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 304 

Release Date: January 17, 2012

Source: ARC given for review

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Shalini’s father gets a new job in L.A., she is torn away from her life in India and the boy to whom she’s been betrothed since she was three. L.A. is so different, and Shalini dresses and talks all wrong. She isn’t sure she’ll survive high school in America without her fiancé, Vikram, and now she has to cope with her mom’s homesickness and depression. A new friend, chill and confident Renuka, helps Shalini find her way and get up the courage to join the Food4Life club at school. But she gets more than just a friend when she meets Toby—she gets a major crush. Shalini thinks she loves Vikram, but he never made her feel like this. 

In Lovetorn, Shalini discovers that your heart ultimately makes its own choices, even when it seems as if your destiny has already been chosen. -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

When I received this book from the publisher I thought to myself that I really loved the cover.  I am a sucker for what the cover looks like.  I know you are not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I do.  I loved the design on the side of the book.  I was interested in knowing more.  I had to know more.

You meet Shalini.  She and her family are moving to L.A. from India.  All  she has known is India.  She doesn't know what people do here, she doesn't know what they wear, or even where they buy their groceries.  So when her family gets to the states it is a real experience.  So she goes to the local high school, but she is having a hard fitting in.  People don't like her because she is different.  She is having a hard time meeting friends and just being a normal teenager.  Which is very sad because I have some of my best memories in high school.  I met some of my best friends there(which I am still friends with), and I met my husband there(yes we are high school sweethearts).  High school was awesome....most of the time. :)  

While there she meets this guy Toby.  Toby is in the school orchestra, he is popular, and not to mention extremely good looking.  So she develops a major crush on him.  But there is one thing holding her back.  Her boyfriend that is still in India.  Yeah that is defiantly a problem.  So she is torn between to guys that she is madly and deeply crushing over. How awesome does this book seem????

At first I didn't know how I would feel about this book.  I thought it was just another contemporary novel to go along with the many others.  Boy was I wrong.  This book showed a girl not only dealing with the issues that she is facing.  But it also showed the issues that her family was dealing with as a whole.  Sometimes books don't do that.  And I really liked that this one did.  To me it kind of made the book stand out even more.  This will defiantly be a book that I would recommend to someone that want a really great easy read.

Thank you Kavita Daswani for such an awesome and heart felt book.  You are amazing.  This book had everything it needed, love, sadness, and adventure all in one!

My Rating:

I am giving this book 4 out 5 stars.   

:)

Review: Vespertine

The Vespertine

By: Saundra Mitchell

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Pages: 293

Release date:  March 7, 2011

Source: Borrowed from Library

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause. -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

So this book was pushed on me by Lynn at Bringing the Epic.  She has always pushed really great books on me so when she was like, " you have to read this book!  It is my favorite book of the year!" So I promised her I would give it time when I have the time.  Well I had the time and I am happy I did. 

The book is a historical fiction and it is about this girl named Amelia.  Amelia goes and lives in Baltimore with a family.  While she is there she is going to go to school and work for the family.  But also during this time, she becomes very close friends with Zora, the daughter of the house.  But also while she is there she meets Nathaniel, and there is more than meets the eye with Nathaniel but she just can not put her finger on it.

This book had everything that I thought was going to be in the book.  It had a great love story, and a great mystery story to it.  This would defiantly be a book that I would recommend to someone that loves books where there always is a happy ending.  This is defiantly a book for them.  The only thing that I can complain about the book is that it did have a happy ending.  I prefer books that keep you going.  Keep your attention and make you want more.  This book was just a really good book.  It was a easy read and a rainy day read.  I need more suspense to the story.  But that is just me.  Some out there are going to fall in love with the this story.....like Lynn.  Check out her review HERE!

My Rating:

I am giving this book 3 out 5 stars.  If you like historical fiction with some paranormal this book has to be on your reading list!

:)

Review: The alchemy of forever

the alchemy of forever

By: Avery Williams

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Release Date: January 3, 2012

Pages: 256

Source: ARC for review

Goodreads Synopsis: 

People say ‘love never dies’… but love might be the death of Seraphina. Seraphina has been alive since the Middle Ages, when her boyfriend, Cyrus, managed to perfect a method of alchemy that lets them swap bodies with any human being. Sera ran away from Cyrus years ago, when she realized that what they were doing—taking the lives of innocent people—was wrong. She doesn't want to die, so she finds young people who are on the brink of death, and inhabits their bodies. When we meet Sera, she has landed in the body of a girl named Kailey who was about to die in a car accident. For the first time, Sera falls in love with the life of the person she’s inhabiting. Sera also falls for the boy next door, Noah. And soon it’s clear the feelings are returned. Unfortunately, she can never kiss Noah, because for her to touch lips with a human would mean the human’s death. And she has even more to worry about: Cyrus is chasing her, and if she stays in one place for long, she puts herself—and the people she’s grown to care for—in danger. -Goodreads-

My Thoughts:

Sometimes I think books are best when you don't read the back of it.  You have no idea what it is about going into it, or what you are getting yourself into.  This happened to me with this book.  And I loved it! It was so worth it.

You meet Seraphina when she is a 14 year old girl that is learning what it means that love never dies.  Her boyfriend figures out how to live forever by swapping bodies with someone that dies instead of dying yourself.  Now to me when I read this, I was thinking to myself that I may not like this.  I thought that maybe it could be interesting, but I could not see myself reading.  Well to make a long story short I finished it......and.....I LOVE IT.  I could not get enough of it.

Seraphina decides that she is going to not switch bodies.  She wants to save lives instead of killing.  So she helps a girl by talking her out of killing herself.  She feels accomplished.  She feels like she did something right.  Then Seraphina witnesses a car crash and she tries to help the girl that was involved.  Well while doing this she takes over the bodies of the dead girl.  At this point in the book is where I was like, "really, really?"  But I kept going.  And I am glad I did.  While in this body, she becomes Kailey.  Kailey has all the friends, is the most popular girl in school, and loves to paint and listen to music.  These are somethings that Seraphina does not like to do.  Seraphina has a hard time adjusting to this life, because all the lives that she has swapped she has ran away and went back to her old life.  But this can not happen this time around.  Because she is in the body of a 16 year old girl.  She has a mom, dad, brother,  teachers, and a guy that would look for her if she would come on missing. So she has to live this life.  But she realizes that it may not be bad.


This book has everything that I think a book should have.  It really keeps you going and into the story.  I believe with books like these you need to have the readers attention for the whole book.  With this book I think that it really didn't do that until you got to the part where she enters Kailey's body.  After that the book was really good.



My Rating: 




I am giving this book 4 out 5 stars.  If you want a book that is action packed, has twist and turns, and keeps you going this defiantly a book for you.