Review of Slide by Jill Hathaway

Title: Slide
Author: Jill Hathaway
Published by: HarperCollins
Pages: 256
Source: NetGalley/HarperCollins
Format: ebook
Rating:★★★

Summary from Goodreads: Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

What an intriguing concept.  While there have been stories about mind readers, Jill Hathaway takes this concept and adds her own twist to it.  The ability to touch something of a person's and be able to "slide" into their mind at that exact same time is mind blowing.  While I personally wouldn't like this gift (or curse whichever way you look at it), I did enjoy reading about someone who did have it.

Vee is an interesting character.  She wants so much to be "normal" or at least have someone to talk to, but the last person she told about her gift didn't believe her and made her see a shrink.  I felt bad for Vee always having to carry this burden around with her alone.  I would hate not being able to control it and seeing everyone's true nature.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.  I felt the reason that she clung to Zane so quickly is because she couldn't talk to anyone else.

While I enjoyed both the male leading characters of Zane and Rollins, I was also suspect of them.  They were both obviously hiding things and I felt they let Vee down when she needed them the most. 

I loved the mystery that was present in Slide.  I wasn't quite sure what was real or not because it's not like Vee's gift is exact.  I kept switching back between two suspects and trying to figure out their involvement.  My big problem was that the ending felt rushed for me.  There was this big anticipation leading up to figuring out who the killer was and then bam we found out and it's over.  I would have loved to see the ending with a couple of more twists and turns and building to this huge and exciting climax.  Instead it fell flat for me and I was a bit disappointed.

An intriguing concept and a great mystery, and while it didn't blow me away I'm still excited to see where this series goes.  

Top Ten Tuesday

Today I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Nine Books I'd Give A Theme Song To (and please tell us the song and why you'd pick it for the book!)

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth.  Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship (ft Leighton Meester).  I choose this song because Tris went from being a good and quiet girl to a fierce chicka.  Gotta love it when characters take a walk on the wild side. 

2. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead.  Breakeven by The Scipt.  If you've read this book you know who this song is for. 

3. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. I'm Falling Even More in Love With You by Lifehouse.  Alex and Brittany have this amazing love story.  As much as they fight their attraction in the end it's inevitable. 

4. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.  The Lighthouse Tale by Nickle Creek.  Sean was such a steady rock during this book.  He was battered had been through hell and back and yet he was a beacon for Puck.

5. Lover Revealed/Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward.  Someone Like You by Adele.  This song is for Vishous.  I still think that somewhere in my ultimate universe he and Butch are a couple. 

6. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.  Survivor by Destiny's Child.  These ladies seriously know how to kick some butt, plus look refreshed and moisturized while doing it. 

7. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. The Only Exception by Paramore.  This song just seems to fit the ending. 

8. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. Gyspy by Shakira.  This song is so light, funky and fun that it just fits my image of Lola.   

9. Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles.  Not Meant To Be by Theory of a Deadman.  I feel like this song is constantly playing through Caleb's mind the entire novel.   

Review of Looking for Alaska by John Green

Title: Looking for Alaska

Author: John Green
Narrator: Jeff Woodman
Published by: Brillance Audio
Length: ca. 7 hr.
Source: Library
Format: Audio book
Rating: ★★★★★

Summary from Goodreads: Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

For a lot of people Looking for Alaska evokes a love hate relationship.  For me it's purely love.  There is something about John Green's writing (or maybe Jeff Woodman's narrating) that pulled me in from the very first minutes of the story.  Don't get me wrong it is not a happy, uplifting story, but it's raw and real.  I enjoyed everything about this story from the crazy characters to the heartfelt story line.  Are not we all looking for something that could possibly make our lives better or what's the next adventure to be bestowed?  

All of the characters in this novel are quirky and completely memorable.  I only wish that I could have been part of their lives a little longer.  Miles doesn't really have any friends so he decides to go to boarding school to look for something better to happen.  And it does on the first day when he meets his roommate Chip who is called The Colonel and the gorgeous but very moody Alaska.  They have many adventures throughout the year and while there are fun times and pranks, there is also heartbreak and pain.

I love the growth of Miles throughout the novel.  While I'm a little unsure of his complete and utter besmittenness with Alaska, I like where he finds himself at the end of the novel.  While I'm not much for swearing I didn't think that it took away from this novel like it does in others.  It could have been the audio or just that I was so enraptured in the story.  Jeff Woodman has the perfect tone for each of the characters the caught my attention from the minute Miles stepped foot at boarding school.  I immensely enjoyed his narration and I hope to hear him again.

While this wasn't the light book I was hoping for I still fell in love with it and I can't wait to read more of John Green's work. 

Friday Night Date Night

Friday Night Date Night is a feature on my blog that showcases movie review (mostly movies that were adapted from books).  Hopefully some of these reviews will help you decide what to watch on your date night or a night of chillin with the girls.

 

This week instead of posting about a movie I just watched, instead I'm going to discuss the movies based on one authors books...Nicholas Sparks.  I must admit that I used to read a lot of Nicholas Sparks's novels.  They were great love stories and completely moving.  My only problem is that after the third or fourth book they all starting sounding the same. 

 

Just because I haven't read a book of his in a long time, doesn't mean that I stay away from the movies based on his book.  In fact, I'm attracted to them like vampire is to blood.  How can you not be with those leading males...Kevin Costner, Shane West, Ryan Gosling, Richard Gere, Channing Tatum, Liam Hemsworth and now Zac Efron.  I'm drooling just thinking about them.  In case you forgot I'll give you a little reminder.  

  

YUM!  I cannot wait to see The Lucky One.  Which Nicholas Sparks movie is your favorite?  I would have to say either The Notebook or A Walk to Remember, but I'm thinking that will change after I see The Lucky One.   

Want to see more? 

Review of Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 240
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

Greek Mythology is a huge trend right now in YA lit, and Brodi Ashton is the latest one to join the gang.  Everneath is a retelling/vamped up version of the story of Persephone.  Out of all the gods and goddess I'd choose to be, Hades and Persephone make the bottom of my list.  While I might not necessarily want to be them, but that doesn't mean their story is any less interesting.  In fact, it's quite intriguing because it deals with the Underworld or what Brodi Ashton calls the Everneath. 

Nikki went through what she thought was a traumatic experience and she wanted the pain to go away, so she decided to go to the Everneath to get all her feelings and emotions sucked away by Cole.  There was a lot going on in Nikki life at the time of her decision.  The driver of the car who killed her mother had just been found innocent, and there was a very cute and very popular girl trying to steal her boyfriend Jack.  I understand she's hurting, but she ends up jumping to conclusions and makes a decision that not only affects her but so many other people around her.  I felt like her decision was not only impulsive, but also very selfish.   

I'm not sure if it was the fact that Nikki was drained of all emotion but she felt really flat as a character for me.  In fact, I felt no real attachment to anyone in the story.  Cole is an interesting character, but we don't get to learn enough about him to become invested.  I did like Jack, but again I would have liked some more depth from him.  I actually enjoyed him more in Nikki's memories of before.  He seemed fun and full of life, then Nikki left and he fell apart.

The story itself was intriguing and it was quite a mystery with Nikki trying to find a way to not get sucked back into the tunnels. The story was a little anticlimactic until the end, which by the way...I was not a fan of.  I understand why Brodi Ashton ended the novel how she did and it was a bit romantic, but that still doesn't mean I have to like it.  

I had high hopes for Everneath and while it didn't meet my expectations, I still did enjoy the story and it was fun to learn a little more Greek mythology.

What makes you reread a book?

Are you a rereader? 

This is a question that most people answer easily as either yes or no...for me I'm going to say sometimes.  At times I feel like my TBR pile is too big and there is no way I have time to reread a book, but other times I find myself rereading one anyway.

 

That got me thinking about rereading and why I tend to reread (or read, then listen to the audio or even listen to the audio twice) some books and not others. 

So what's my critierion (it has to be one of the following, but not necessarily all of the following):
1. It's one of my favorites
2. I forgot what happened and/or I want to read the next book in the series
3. The movie is coming out
4. I heard the audio was amazing
5. We are discussing it in bookclub that month
6. I've joined a read-along

So that brings me to you...What makes you reread a book?

Top Ten Tuesday

Today I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

February 21: Top Ten Books I'd Quickly Save If My House Was Going To Be Abducted By Aliens (or any other natural disaster...you get the drift. )

1. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling.  These books mean so much to me and hold so many memories (like standing in line at midnight for each new book and then staying up all night to finish it), that I'd be so sad to see them go. 

2. The Perfect Chemistry series by Simone Elkeles.  These are signed so they would be hard for me to replace, plus if I got sick of looking at those green men I could lose myself in the Fuentes brothers and be just fine and dandy.

3. I Can Be Anything by Jerry Spinelli.  This is actually my niece’s book that I bought for her.  I read it to her almost every night (yes I have the amazing opportunity of living with her...along with my sister and brother-in-law) and in all actuality this would be the first book I would save just so she'd have something familiar.

4. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.  Not only would I need a hilarious book at this point, but it also has so great survival tips (and beauty tips...I might need them, you never know when you're going to meet Mr. Right).

5. My great-grandmother’s cookbook, and my grandmother's recipe book.  I don't know if these count, but they hold so much sentimental value and are irreplaceable.

6. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.  This is the second week in a row Nicholas Sparks has made my list and haven’t read a book by him in years.  Nicholas Sparks is the first author event I ever went to and this is one of my first signed books.  It will always hold a place in my heart.

7. Graceling by Kristin Cashore.  Maybe Katsa can give me some tips on how to kick these green men's butts. 

8. Any book by Melina Marchetta.  She's my favorite YA author and I would definitely feel comforted just by having her books near.

9. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. To remind me that even when I don't have much left to keep on giving.  

10.  All the books on my iPad.  It's not really the books at this point because they are replaceable, but I need that lifeline of a phone/wireless device.