Sunday, April 26, 2009

Review: Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Product Description:
There's a difference between falling and letting go.

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in -- and as Lauren's craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce -- Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice...before one is made for her.


Review:
Okay, before I say anything about the book, I want to say I read this book the day after I finished Going Too Far. And personally I love "deeper" books, so this book was incomparable with Going Too Far...

Ahem, anyways. So I actually found this book to be somewhat... boring. I loved Elizabeth Scott in the book Perfect You, but then after reading such a deep book like Going Too Far, Bloom felt so.. typical. Girl goes out with guy. Girl actually likes old friend. A bunch of drama happens and in the end girl ends up with guy she actually likes. That's your typical romance novel. In Bloom, not only was the storyline boring for me, but I really disliked the main character! She hurt so many people, I felt so bad for the way she treated her best friend. She lies to so many people, it made me angry. Sure, it makes way for a happy ending, but a person is left heartbroken, and another person feels incredibly hurt. Not my idea of the happiest ever after in my mind. But if you're looking for a light read, or if you've never read Elizabeth Scott's books, I guess this is a good place to start. I don't know, but I just liked Perfect You better. This one was a bit too dull for me.

But I'm still a fan of Elizabeth Scott!

2 smiles out of 5 smiles.

Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Product Description:

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over....


Review:
I have to say that this book was utterly AMAZING! I read the whole book in just one sitting. Going Too Far is not your typical romance novel--it's hard for me to really say why, but trust me, IT'S GOOD. The book was incredibly well-written, and the characters felt so real. I feel like I know John and Meg personally now, because their behaviors and attitudes are so greatly conveyed throughout the story. I must mention that a couple parts really shocked me, which doesn't happen all-too-often because many books that have romance in it can get very predictable. The emotions felt throughout the book just makes the book so appealing and addicting to read. I can't think of anything bad about the book, so that HAS to be a good thing.

5 smiles out of 5 smiles

Okay, so I guess this isn't a very good review, because I really don't want to give ANYTHING away. Just trust me, you'll definitely a GREAT book. It's officially one of my favorite books now.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Musical Fidelity, a poem of mine :)

Musical Fidelity

Strumming an ivory-colored guitar with

Skinny fingers, the nails a bit too long

Comes forth sounds far from cacophony. A

Lone, raspy singing voice, speaking of pains and pleasures

Too hard to convey through words solely. He yells to

Turn that discord to a near-silent level, too quiet for anybody

To hear. For she is never heard, never is she a top priority.


Creativity at its best, for people to hear visually, yet

Everyone shuns this bohemian behavior. Why is she never

Given a second look? Melodies are left behind as

Technology and business march forward. Narrow-minded parents

Speak of the medical field, fields of law, yet


At the thought of rhythms and tunes they are utterly

Mute. Dreams of musicality, her beloved future slowly

Fade into a world nonexistent. Despite this losing battle

For wings to fly toward a lyrical heaven, she continues


To stay devoted.

To stay faithful.

Remain steadfast

To a force named Music.




This is the poem I submitted to the Scholarship Poetry Contest a couple months ago. And guess what! I was a Topical Winner! Okay, so I guess I'm not a regional winner, nor am I going to be selected for the actual scholarship money, but still, this award is still an honor to me :) Less than 2% of all of the entries they got were Topical Winners, which I have to say I'm really proud of since there are typically more than 500,000 entries per year. And since I'm a Topical Winner, I get to have my poem published in their annual anthology (a collection of poems, a minimum of 144 pages). Haha okay, so I guess having a 20-line poem in a 144+ page anthology isn't all too special, but eh, I'm still extremely happy! Because honestly, I spent 20 minutes writing my poem. Then I submitted it. Haha maybe next year when they have the contest again, I'll spend more time and effort on it and will hopefully at least get to be a regional winner (there's only about 500 regional winners each year). YAY! Okay, so much excitement!



Oh, and sorry I haven't really posted anything for a really long time. I've been buried in schoolwork and have been busy with a lot of other matters. Applying for various scholarships and such haha.

Monday, April 13, 2009

HUGEEEE giveaway!

Grand Prize: $100 GC to Amazon.com
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies (like chocolate, bath goodies, ect). This is going to be a NICE prize!
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies. (same as above)

Plus chances to win books (almost) every day for a month!

Go to http://www.anyabast.com/blog/ for details on how to enter.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Reader's Choice Awards

Ello all! Right now at YA Reads, there is something called the Reader's Choice Awards going on. There, you can win one of 3 prize packs. And guess what? All you have to do is vote a few times! Here are the details, copied from the website:

Win 6 books by voting for your favorites!

3 people will be randomly picked. 1 U.S. winner and 2 International.

The prizes are six of the nominated books courtesy of the authors.

Prizes for 1 non U.S. winner:

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/jessica.jpghttp://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/shadowed.jpg


Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell

Prizes for 1 International winner:

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/fetch.jpghttp://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/wherever.jpg


The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb
Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

Prizes for 1 U.S. winner:

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/fade.jpghttp://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww253/yareads/Feb%20Awards/september.jpg


Fade by Lisa McMann
The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor


To enter:

1. Vote on each categories here:

http://www.yareads.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=105


2. Answer the following questions in this thread together with your name, email address, and what prize you are gunning for (International or U.S.).


Best Book Blogger:
Nominate a book blogger for next month:
Nominate a book released on March '09:


If you're not comfortable showing your email addy to the public, email us at yareadscontest (at) gmail (dot) com with your name (you still have to post on this thread, just w/out the email).


3. For additional entries, you can do 1 or more or all of these:

-post about the contest on your blog
-leave a link on your sidebar telling people about the contest


Tell us which of these things you did and post the link for proof.


_______________________________________



Not only will you get a chance to win awesome books, you will also be supporting your favorite authors.

Contest ends on April 30, 2009.




Soooo, want to enter? Just click right here and start voting!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Win a Kindle 2 at Get Glue!! :0

Boogie on over to Get Glue's blog to enter to win a KINDLE 2! GetGlue.com is an awesome site that helps keep track of sites you visit about movies, books, etc. and connects you with people who look at the same thing.

Also, you can get points each day, by tweeting and inviting other people to join in on this contest! The 4 people who accumulate the most points receive a $25 Amazon gift card! How awesome is that!

So make sure you tell everyone you know about this one! If you enter, please tell me :) I'd appreciate getting some extra entries myself, haha.

The winner will be selected on April 10, so get tweeting! :)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Giveaway Links

Yay, lucky for you I update this whenever I find another giveaway around the blogosphere! It's mostly book giveaways, but sometimes you find giveaways for some other random items too :) Good luck and hope you win something!

If there is no "ends..." after the link, it means that the deadline is not mentioned on that blog.

And I know some of the "ends..." dates are still listed even though they've passed, but I keep them on here until the winner of the contest is announced on that person's blog. Or I might just be too lazy or busy to check back on the links ;)

-Win Wish You Were Here at Harmony Book Reviews
-Win a whole lotta books at Reader Rabbit ends 04/29
-Win The Summer I Turned Pretty at Cupcake Witch ends 04/10
-Win a Spa-at-Home kit at Momtrends ends 04/30
-Win 4 books at WORD for Teens
-Win Shrinking Violet at Shooting Stars Mag ends 04/30
-Win 3 Jennifer Echols books at Bookluver-Carol's Reviews
-Win Cracked Up to Be at Reader Rabbit
-Win Crest Whitestrips at Momtrends winner announced 05/09