It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (80)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, is a bookish meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It’s a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over to Journey and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.

So, just like my StS post, I totally skipped this one last week with the long weekend. :P So, these are the books I finished over the last two weeks. :)

Books I Read The Last 2 Weeks:

• The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

I actually didn't like this one as much as I thought I would. I expected the love to be more profound, but whenever the narrator, Cole, described his relationship with Julia it seemed to be more about the sex than anything. It was still a well told story, and focused a lot on grief, but I just didn't click with it like I thought I would.

• Crux by Julie Reece

I loved this one! :D I've had the egalley for a while, but was waiting until it was closer to the release for the blog tour...and now I wish I'd read it sooner because it was amazing! I'm really glad that I got the chance to read it. :)

• Eternal (A Holloway Pack Story #0.5) by J.A. Belfield

I also loved this one. :D It was a novella, so a bit shorter, but I still managed to get caught up in Jem and Sean as I usually do! Now I really can't wait until Blue Moon's release! :D

• Promised (Birthmarked #3) by Caragh M. O'Brien

I pretty much shrieked out loud when this one showed up in my mailbox! :D I picked it up right away...and I absolutely loved it! :D It broke my heart at times, and made me seriously anxious for the characters, but overall, I was extremely happy with this one. :D

• The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

I had a great book week because I loved this one too! :D I loved the references to the 90's and the little jokes that Emma and Josh didn't get, but we as the reader in the future did...and ultimately, I loved the characters. They were fantastic. :D

• Witch's Brew (The Spellspinners of Melas County #1) by Heidi R. Kling

Google play finally became available for my Kobo Vox so I bought this one up, and I loved it! The ending was a brutal cliffhanger though!!! Now I can't wait until the next one. Anyone have any ideas when it comes out???

Reading Now:

• Identical by Ellen Hopkins

This one is so intense, but I'm really enjoying it. Ellen Hopkins is amazing at verse, and even if the subject matter is intense, as it is in Identical, I can't help but appreciate the art form that her books are. I hope for Raeanne and Kaeleigh that this story somehow has a happy (or happy-ish) ending.

Books I Want to Read This Week:

• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

I meant to read this one back when it came out, but school got a bit crazy and so I pushed it to the side! I took the book jacket off now though, and we all know that means business. ;) haha Hopefully I'll get to it after I finish Identical. :)

And what are you reading???

Check out One Person's Journey Through a World of Books to see what other people are reading. :)

Stacking the Shelves (6)

Stacking the Shelves is Tynga's Reviews' version of In My Mailbox (from The Story Siren and inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie).

Stacking the Shelves is a way to share the books that you're adding to your physical and virtual bookshelves. It's easy to participate. You just make your own post, and link it to the main post over at Tynga's Reviews. Also, in case you're curious, Tynga's post for it goes up on Saturdays, but you can post it any day that you like. :) You can find out more about participating by reading the Stacking the Shelves Launch post.

Well, last Sunday was Canada Day and I didn't feel like sitting inside blogging, so I skipped my StS post. :P So, here's what I got over the past two weeks!

For Review:

Auracle by Gina Rosati (from Raincoast Books)
Promised (Birthmarked #3) by Caragh M. O'Brien (from Raincoast Books)
Shadowborn (Lila Gray #2) by Jocelyn Adams (from J. Taylor Publishing)
Pledged (Soul Wars Saga #1) by Gwynneth White (from Swallow Press)
Defiance (Defiance #1) by C. J. Redwine (from Edelweiss and the publisher)

I'm so excited for all of these!!! :D I already read, devoured, and loved Promised, and I can't wait to read the rest! :D I hadn't heard of Pledged until I was emailed about it's blog tour, but it sounds really interesting, so I'm looking forward to it. Auracle, and Defiance were both ones on my Books I Can't Wait to Read lists, so of course I squealed when I got them (Promised too! haha), and Shadowborn is a sequel I've been looking forward to...so it was definitely an awesome couple of weeks for review titles. :D

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Sent by Chrystal at Snowdrop Dreams of Books:

Embers and Echoes (Wildefire #2) by Karsten Knight
The Birth of Jaiden by Jennifer Malone Wright

Chrystal hadn't read Wildefire yet, so she was awesome enough to send me her copy of its sequel, Ember and Echoes! :D She also sent along a copy of The Birth of Jaiden, which I hadn't heard of, so I'll have to check it out. :D Thank you so much, Chrystal! :D I can't wait to read Embers and Echoes especially!!! :D

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Won:

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (won from Mary at Bookhounds)

I've been wanting to read this one for forever, so when I won a book of my choice for under $15 from Mary at Bookhounds, I picked this one!!! :D I'm seriously so excited to start it. I'm going to try and squeeze it in between a couple review titles. :D

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Bought:

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (Book Depository)
This Dark Endeavor (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein #1) by Kenneth Oppel (Wal-mart)
The Thirteen by Susie Moloney (Wal-mart)
Choker by Elizabeth Mills (Chapters)
The Espressologist by Kristina Springer (Chapters)

My pre-order of Something Like Normal came, and I'm really excited for it! :D The other four were all books that I spotted while browsing and just couldn't resist. I'm especially excited for This Dark Endeavor, as a lot of you mentioned Kenneth Oppel as one of your favourite Canadian authors during the Canada Day Hop. :D

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So, those are the awesome titles I've gotten in the last two weeks! What have you gotten?
Feel free to leave a link to your StS, or other Mailbox memes in the comments, and I'll stop by for a visit. :)

Review: Teen Boat! by Dave Roman and John Green

Source: Received a copy from Thomas Allen and Sons for an honest review.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Release Date: Already Released.
Number of Pages: 144 (Hardcover)

(Goodreads Link.)

Blurb from Goodreads:

High school can be a time of terrible angst—Fs on tests, bullying jerks, broken hearts,
and late-stage puberty are just some of the potential issues that all teen boys face. But
what about the issues facing a Teen Boat? In this hilarious send-up of teen story tropes,
the best-selling author Dave Roman and the cartoonist John Green deliver high school
and high seas drama with a boatload of laughs.

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I don't typically read many graphic novels, but I actually really enjoyed Teen Boat!, and I'm glad that I gave it a chance because it had me constantly laughing. :)

One thing that I always appreciate about graphic novels is the artwork, and I thought that John Green did a fabulous job on Teen Boat!! The art matched the lines within the story so well, and I absolutely loved Teen Boat's transformation. It just looked so cool, and even though it was a static image, I could totally picture it in motion, which made it that much more amazing. :)

Along with the fabulous art, the story was fabulous! I especially loved all of the puns...I am a HUGE sucker for puns, and Dave Roman did them extremely well, and John Green drew in those puns thereby making them even more awesome! :D Who knew punny (not to be confused with puny :P) drawings were even better than just plain ole puns! ;D

The one thing that kind of confused me about the graphic novel was its setup. It's broken up into what I would call different issues, which made me wonder if it was originally intended to be in multiple issues or not. They could be seen as chapters though, and that makes it a more fluid novel in itself. So, if you read this one, think of them as chapters and you probably won't be a bit confused once you get to the second one. I probably should've thought of that when I started reading it myself. :P lol

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Teen Boat!, I thought that it was funny, and had wonderful artwork, which had me nostalgic for the days when I used to read Captain Underpants...because those books totally made me laugh like crazy, just like Teen Boat!. I would recommend Teen Boat! to fans of graphic novels who like to laugh, and also to fans of puns who are looking for something a little different. I'm sure all John Green and Dave Roman fans will totally love it, too.

Have you read Teen Boat! yet?

What do you think of graphic novels?
Got any good puns to share?? ;P

Review: Rock On by Denise Vega

 Source: Received from Hachette Book Group Canada for an honest review.

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Release Date: Already Released
Number of Pages: 296 (Hardcover) | 304 (Paperback)

(Goodreads Link.)

Blurb from Goodreads:

Ori Taylor is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Band To Be Named Later, a garage band he started with his friends. After years of being known only as the kid brother of sports star Del, Ori is looking forward to stepping out of his older brother’s shadow, learning to perform in public, and rocking the Battle of the Bands contest. Oh, and maybe finally working up the nerve to talk to a girl in person instead of just over e-mail. But when Del suddenly returns from college, he expects Ori to step back into his role of little brother, just when Ori is starting to come into his own.

With his confidence wavering, will Ori be able to overcome his stage fright and lead the band to rock glory? Will the Band To Be Named Later ever get a real name? Will their best performances remain in the garage?

Denise Vega’s deft exploration of brothers, bands, friends, and crushes promises to have readers tuning in page after page, because among all the ups and downs of being a teen, one thing’s for sure: We all just want to rock on.

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I've mentioned that I love music, so I pretty much jump at the chance to read anything music-related that I can get my hands on, and in the case of Rock On, I'm extremely glad that I did! :D

One thing that I absolutely loved about Rock On was that it was from a teen boy's perspective, which I found really interesting...I also absolutely loved Ori (or Orion) and his passion for music! :D Ori was pretty much a prodigy and had been playing guitar for years. I was never a prodigy myself and only played the saxophone for a brief while, but Ori's passion totally made me wish that I could play like that...or that I had actually tried to learn to play better. :P

I also loved that Rock On didn't stick to one type of storytelling. Instead there were blog posts and updates for the band through the Battle of the Bands website, which I thought was a fantastic touch! I especially loved that you could see the comments of the people visiting their site...it made me wish that it was an interactive website that I could've actually checked out. :P There were also flashbacks, which I didn't enjoy as much as the blog, but they were alright. I found the switch to a different type of perspective a bit strange, but I did like getting to see into Ori's past and to see how his relationship with his brother, Del, was like before.

My favourite part about Rock On was Ori himself. I just loved his character. I did want to nudge him in the right direction every once in a while though. :P His relationship with his brother, Del, was probably the biggest conflict throughout the book, and like one of his best friends, Allie, I just wanted him to talk to his brother and work things out. His brother was kind of a big butthead, but being closer to Del in age, I could totally understand why he was acting out. It still didn't justify it though. I really felt for the two brothers, and I liked that the conflict between them was realistic. It added a completely different side to the story, one that I didn't really expect to be so prominent, but still thoroughly enjoyed. I also really liked the side characters, and getting to see Ori stop being so awkward with girls. It was great seeing him get out of his shell. :)

Overall, I really liked Rock On. I thought that it was an interesting perspective on music, and I liked that it was unique. I've definitely never read another story that was anything like this one. I especially enjoyed the characters. Not only was Ori a great main character, but the supporting characters were fantastic as well. Right from all of their entrances, each of the characters were so fully defined, and I thought that was fabulous. :D I'd recommend this one if you like music, and if you're into stories that cover all the bases from romance to sibling drama, to stage fright, to trying to come into yourself and out of your sibling's shadow.

What do you think? Does Rock On sound like something you'd enjoy?

Canada Day Blog Hop Winner!

Okay, so the winner is:

Donna Simmonds

Congratulations, Donna! :D I'll be emailing you shortly. You will have 48 hours to claim your prize. If you don't get an email from me in the next little while, contact me at ambiepie_6@hotmail.com

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And in case you were wondering, by the winter hats we wear....I did mean toques (not spelled tooks :P)! :D

I also definitely enjoyed reading your facts and random stereotypes answers. :)
I'll clear some up for you.

We do not actually eat a lot of macaroni and cheese...some people might, but it is not some common staple diet here...unless you're a poor University student I guess, but that's not unique to Canada. :P

The drinking age actually isn't 18 in most of Canada. The majority of Canada has a drinking age of 19. It's only Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta that have a drinking age of 18. Although, every once in a while you'll hear mention of them trying to change it. :)

We do have Mounties, or the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mountain Police), however, we have separate police entities, too. Not all of our police are actually Mounties. Edmonton for example has it's own police force completely separate from the Mounties, while the RCMP are more in the smaller towns and area. Also, they don't wear the red outfit and ride horses anymore...except for ceremonies, and events like parades. :)
 
 Hockey is actually a pretty big deal. Not for everyone though. :P

Someone mentioned the accent and about...I've not even gonna go there. We don't say "aboot" and that's all I'm gonna say before I go into a rant. I will acknowledge that we do say "eh" sometimes. My dad actually says it quite a bit. :P

Yay for poutine!!! :D

There were a few How I Met Your Mother ones...which I loved! I love that show. One mentioned Canadians are afraid of the dark...that's actually a joke. There used to be a kids show called "Are You Afraid of the Dark" and it was Canadian, hence the joke on HIMYM. It's a pun...although in all honesty, I was afraid of the dark when I was little. :P

Canadian bacon. Yes, it's a ham, not the only ham albeit, but that doesn't mean we don't have regular bacon, too. I don't actually eat Canadian bacon...I don't think I ever actually have. I eat regular bacon, and usually honey ham. :P

We do still acknowledge the Queen of England and are still part of the Commonwealth.

Thanks for sharing your Canadian facts, stereotypes, and comments. :) Also, thanks for entering everyone! I loved reading all your answers. I think I'll have to think of a fun giveaway where you can all give me crazy answers again soon. ;) haha

Anyone else have some comments on the Canadian facts or stereotypes? Who eats a lot of Canadian bacon? Any hockey fans or hockey haters? ;)

Happy belated Canada Day everyone! :D