Liked and Shared {3}

Liked and Shared is a new feature I'll be trying out. Basically, I find something I like and share it with you guys!

Oh, Donna. She may not be my favorite companion, but she does have some really good scenes and this is definitely one of my favorite.

Bewitching by Alex Flinn {Review}

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publish Date: February 14, 2012

Source: Library

Goodreads

Bewitching can be a beast...
Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Other didn't.
I go to a new school now -- one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I'm not still here because I'm stupid; I just don't age.
You see, I'm immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years -- except for when to take my powers and butt out.
I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banned from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the "Titanic" life boat? I don't even want to think about it.
Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn't get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl -- and it isn't an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start...bewitching. 

Bewitching is one majorly fun read. This book gave me that swelling heart/goofy grin feeling in the end. Sure, some parts were a little cheesy and it was chock-full of fairytale elements, but would you really expect anything less?

I love that though we have the whole “evil stepsister” thing going on it’s not a normal Cinderella story in the least. In fact, Emma often refers to the fairytale in comparison to her situation and questions whether she or her sister would really be the “evil stepsister.” I also really love the Emma doesn’t let her anger get the best of her and wish her sister the worst complexion on the planet and an instant 10 sizes added to her waist. She thinks about it sometimes, yes, but she never really wants it to happen which makes her pretty fantastic :]

I really like the way Kendra gets to interject every now and then giving her own opinion on the situation. Plus, the stories from the times she meddled in others lives in the name of helping were fantastic. It was fun to make the connections with what fairytales the stories were related to as well as see some (heavily “touched up”) history.

The Nutshell: If you’ve read some of Alex Flinn’s other fairytale retellings such as Beastly and A Kiss in Time then I can almost guarantee you’ll love Bewitching. This isn’t just one fairytale retelling, it’s a big mashup that has little self-contained stories inside of it. This is a fun read, but it’s also a story that focuses on relationships from those of a girl and her first love to a daughter and her father.

Pages: 336

Series: Kendra Chronicles #2

Rating: Hit

Cover Lover {65}

Of course we all know you should never judge a book by its cover, but do we ever really listen to that?
Cover Lover showcases eye catching, intriguing, and beautiful covers. 

This week's Cover Lover goes to Emily's Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak

Publish date: October 2, 2012

I basically love everything about this cover. The coloring is gorgeous with the little water-looking-spots and deeper blue silhouettes. I love that the "Emily's Dress" portion looks like typewriter letters while the rest is in lovely white cursive. This is one cover I can say I would definitely put a poster up of without knowing anything about the actual book. And is it just me or does the scarf make her look extra mysterious?

Top Ten Books I'm wishing for under my tree

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week there's a category and everyone participating lists their "Top Ten" in that category.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me 

1. Complete Fairy Tales and works of Grimm  B&N classics
1) tThey're gorgeous 2) I haven't read the Hans Christan Andersen fairy tales OR the works of Grimm, so I'm hoping having these gorgeous ladies would solve that problem.

2. Complete Harry Potter hardcover set
How sad is it that I don't own any of them at all? I borrowed them from my husband's parents (we were still living at home) when I read them so sadly I have none.

3. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
So I can finally have all the John Green books and read TFiOS (I wanted to read his books in chronological order.)

4. All the Fullmetal Alchemists I don't own
I found a whole bunch on clearance at Half Price one time, but now I just desperately want them all but I'm not quite willing to pay $5 or $10 each when I'm still missing about 20...

5. The rest of the Gone series by Michael Grant
I only own one of the books and it's not even the first. So every time I'm all "Jeremy (younger brother) you should read these books!" he asks if I have them and I have to go pout in a corner.

6. The Lost Hero and The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
I love these books and I sadly don't own the first in the series or the most recent. It makes The Son of Neptune look pretty lonely on my shelf.

7. (and while we're at it) The entire Percy Jackson series
Considering my love for this series it's really sad that I don't even own one of the books.

8. Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

I've been waiting for this one basically all year and now it's been out for two months and I still haven't read it! It's a tragedy.

9. The Island of Silence by Lis McMann
When I read The Unwanteds earlier this year I immediately fell in love and have been looking forward to the sequel ever since. Sadly, though, I still don't own it nor have I read it...

10. Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
We won't even discuss how sad it is that I don't own either.

Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti {Review}

Publisher: Viking JuvenilePublish Date: May 31, 2012Source: Library
Goodreads

Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or the way her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush, Julian Porter, starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's safer to stay hidden than to risk a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself -- and for the love that keeps her holding on.

When I read the description for Keep Holding On I couldn't help but think I'd be left annoyed by Noelle and her decisions. Sometimes I did just want to grab her by the shoulders and tell her like it is, but she had a friend that did a pretty good job of it, so I understood where she was coming from in those instances even more. Instead of being super annoyed with Noelle, my heart went out to her.

I went to a small school that didn't really have any bullying. When I say small, I'm talking pre-K through 12 in one building. There was a few groups of outcasts, of course, but for the most part, everyone was either friendly or indifferent to each other. So, I've never experienced anything like what Noelle went through. I can't even fathom the cruelty she dealt with. She skipped lunches at school for fear of the torture that'd be inflicted on her because of how poor she was. And her home life was no better. I honestly hated her mother. She was cruel to Noelle in every way possible: yelled at her for simple things, blamed her or their poor situation, rarely fed her or kept any food in the house, and even stole her money. I was itching to call child services despite the fact that it was, you know, fictional...

And then there's Matt. Stupid, idiot Matt. Anyone could see how crappy of a guy he was, but after so many years of torture and being ignored by nearly everyone around her, Noelle can't help but be pulled in by all the attention. Well, the secret attention. Every time she explained his secrecy away I just wanted to go

It hurt to see her go through all that when she really wanted Julian anyway I hated seeing her push him away just because she was disappointed in her life and thought she wasn't worth it.

Keep Holding On is my first Colasanti book, but it definitely won't be my last. She handles bullying in a way that made me want to get up and do something to change it. I felt for Noelle so much and the thought of real life kids dealing with that stuff makes my heart hurt.

The Nutshell: Keep Holding On was not the story about a stupid girl who can't see what's best for her that I expected. Colasanti pulls out the big guns with bullying and really makes you feel for Noelle. If you're in for a story about a girl with a tough life and her journey towards loving and respecting herself then you'll love Keep Holding On.

Pages: 224

Series: No

Rating: Hit