15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 7

Day 7:

Talk about your blogging quirks.

Hmmm, quirks.  This is a tough one because I probably have 100 of them that I don't even realize.  I think I shall make a list:

• I write about 3 or 4 blog posts at a time and then post them every day or more (if I didn't do this I would almost never update)
• I put in the template of a review post first (title, author, summary, review) and then I put in the picture and the information
• I always tag last in case I decide to add something to a post
• The preview button is hit at least three times before I post to make sure everything looks right and uniform (I'm kind of a neat/organization freak)
• Title is the absolute last thing I put on a post (I have no idea why, maybe because it stops me form accidentally posting before I'm ready?)
• I completely obsessively check how many hits I got every day and on what posts to see if anyone likes something more than something else
• I try to give decent reviews, but I find it hard to give an honest, in depth review without giving anything essential part of the plot away so I tend to hold back a lot (and I'm not a teenager so I really never *gush* about a book)
• During the school year I do the vast majority of my blogging when I'm sitting in a class
• And last:  I wish I got comments and followers! (But have learned to do this for myself, not for anyone else)

Tune in tomorrow and all that good stuff!

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 6 + Review: Rage: A Love Story

Day 6:

Describe how you shop for books.

I shop via my library and Goodreads.com, meaning that's where I look to find books I want to read.  If I'm looking to purchase a book I look at Barnes & Noble online first (because I have a membership with them), and then at amazon.  I'll look in both places before buying to see which is cheapest and if either is running a special on the ebook version.

You guys getting sick of reading all these challenge responses yet?  I'll throw a review into this post too!

Title: Rage: A Love Story
Author: Julie Anne Peters
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

Johanna is steadfast, patient, reliable; the go-to girl, the one everyone can count on. But always being there for others can’t give Johanna everything she needs—it can’t give her Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, beautiful, wounded, elusive; a flame that draws Johanna’s fluttering moth. Johanna is determined to get her, against all advice, and to help her, against all reason. But love isn’t always reasonable, right?

In the precarious place where attraction and need collide, a teenager experiences the dark side of a first love, and struggles to find her way into a new light.

Review:

I read this book a long time ago, but it sticks in my head as a good read.  I loved both the characters, and loved them together (pretty much as equally as I hated them together).  The title is very fitting, because while this is a "love story", it's not traditional in the sense that the characters don't have an easy ride and don't seem to be well suited for one another.

I loved Johanna, she reminded me a lot of myself, and I even liked her with Reeve, but I didn't like their relationship because it was unhealthy and all that.  I love how the author shows how imperfect love can be though.

Once I picked up this book I think I had it done in something like a day and a half (or a few hours, I can't remember).  It really sucks you in and doesn't relinquish its claw-like hold until you've reached some sort of conclusion at the end.

As almost always, I highly recommend it.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 5

Day 5!

Recommend a tearjerker.

This is a tough one because I read a lot of tearjerkers (it's one of my favorite things to have a book be so good/sad that it makes me cry!).

In general any of Lurlene McDaniel's older books are tearjerkers and I don't recommend reading them in public unless you want to become a blubbering mess.  However, one particularly good one that I read last year is:

Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic

Summary: Austin Parker is on a journey to bring truth, beauty, and meaning to his life. 

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even see the end of the year. The doctors say his chances of surviving are slim to none even with treatment, so he’s decided it’s time to let go. But before he goes, Austin wants to mend the broken fences in his life. 

So with the help of his best friend, Kaylee, Austin visits every person in his life who touched him in a special way. He journeys to places he’s loved and those he’s never seen. And what starts as a way to say goodbye turns into a personal journey that brings love, acceptance, and meaning to Austin’s life. (goodreads.com)

So yeah, this one is heartwarming and so sad all at the same time.  It's not particularly intense, yet it has this simple power to throw your emotions completely out of whack until you're bawling at the end.

Come back tomorrow for more of my exciting book secrets! (Haha).

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 4

Day 4!

What's the last book you flung across the room?

I'm honestly not sure, the last time I threw a book because of having to read it/the story-line  was probably about 10 years ago.  But the last time I physically threw a book was probably on my last shift at the library because I'm horribly uncoordinated sometimes!

The last book that I hated and forced myself to finish anyway, however, was How to Tell If Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman.

I read it because I liked his other book (My Dog: The Paradox), and figured this one would be similar in style and hilarity.  However, I thought it was stupid and far too long.  I finished it in hopes of at least one good joke to make me laugh out loud, but alas I got to the last page and was disappointed.

I didn't throw it across the room, but I did toss it on a table the moment I finished it.  Usually after I finish a book (especially one that I really like) I close it and look at the cover for a while and then go read an acknowledgements I may have skipped in the beginning.


So there you have it, I'm not intentionally violent to books unless I'm at work and being a klutz!

Tune in tomorrow.