Daisy's Top Ten Books On The Summer TBR List!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics, check them out here!

It's time for another of those Top Ten Seasonal Lists, this time we're talking books you have on your Summer TBR lists! As always, it can be either books you're dying to read now it's starting to get warm or anticipated new releases.

I picked the option where I tell you which 10 books have got me most excited that will be released between June 21st and September 20th 2012!

1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: I don't know if I've ever talked about this book on The Broke and the Bookish before, but I'm one of those Fictionpress fans and I cannot wait to get my hands on a shiny finished copy! I think I pre-ordered this about six months ago and the wait has been excruciating! I am beyond jealous of everyone who managed to get their hands on an ARC ;) Be on the look out for some gushing when it's finally released!

2. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson: So I gushed about the first book in this series in my review and it made my Top Ten Books of 2011. You better believe I'm excited about the sequel!! I'm dying to find out what will happen next and if it will leave me as heartbroken The Girl of Fire and Thorns!

3. The Diviners by Libba Bray: I adored Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series and I cannot wait to start this one! It sounds fascinating, but mostly I'd pretty much read anything by this author!

4. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian: I still need to work on getting my hands on Siobhan Vivian's debut, but I've heard really good things about it and really enjoyed the Summer series by Jenny Han, so this sounds like a VERY promising co-authorship! Also: YES REVENGE AND GIRLS GETTING EVEN!

5. Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier: I'm a really bad fantasy-fan for not having read anything by Juliet Marillier before. I do own at least one of her novels. This is the first book in her new series and it sounds AMAZING! Can't wait to delve in!

6. Origin by Jessica Khoury: I am fascinated by anything that has to do with finding a way to live forever! Also, the cover is beyond gorgeous!

7. Defiance by C.J. Redwine: This one sounds like it will be an EPIC fantasy! And YES to girls wielding swords and basically being kickass! Also, I'm in love with this cover, it'll look so good on my shelve :)

8. Lessons From A Scandalous Bride by Sophie Jordan: For those of you who didn't know: Sophie Jordan writes amazing adult historical romance. I just auto-pre-order whatever she and Sarah MacLean come up with because they haven't disappointed me so far!

9. The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt: I have read 2 books by Lauren Barnholdt and loved both, so I'm expecting this one won't be any different!

10. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: I am in love with his writing! I just ate The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game right up and of course I HAVE to read this third installment!

For those of you going: HUH? She usually cheats on these lists! Don't worry, I'm totally cheating, I'll have a whole extra set of Top Ten books up on my personal blog ;)

So what do you have on your TBR list for Summer? Any of the ones I have listed? Maybe you were lucky enough to get an ARC of and have read already? If so, TELL ME what you though of them! Books I definitely need to add? Ones that I need to put on my 'grabby-hands-pre-order' list? :)

Tahleen reviews: "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Title: The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher: Sandpiper, 2007

Rating: 4.5 stars

It's 1967, and Holling Hoodhood has a lot to deal with. He is constantly fielding bullies at school, his sister wants to be a flower child, his dad is completely focused on his job as a highly regarded architect and ignores his family's true needs, and he thinks his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Holling, being the only Presbyterian in his class, is the only student who doesn't have to go to Hebrew school or Catechism on Wednesday afternoons. As a result, Mrs. Baker has to stay in class with him. Though they start off with Holling clapping erasers, eventually they move on to Shakespeare plays. Throughout the year, Holling learns to apply Shakespeare to life, under Mrs. Baker's guidance—all against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

The Wednesday Wars is everything I want in historical fiction. I'm not into the romance stories or melodramas that seem to be pretty popular. I'm all about how realistic people react to being in a certain  time period, especially if it's done with humor. And for some reason I love reading about the 1960s. What I really loved about Schmidt's writing was how he managed to get very deep and meaningful messages into Holling's often sarcastic and wry musings and observations. It's the voice of a middle schooler with the wisdom of Mrs. Baker, a military wife and teacher.

Characters really developed over the course of the novel. We see hidden sides of most characters, especially Mrs. Baker; Mrs. Bigio, the lunchlady who was recently widowed when her husband died in Vietnam; Holling's sister; and Mai Thi, a Vietnamese girl in Holling's class who was brought out of her war-torn country by a Catholic relief society. I loved watching the relationships develop as well.

Basically, this book gets the message through of what it means to be family, what it means to love, and how you can't judge a person by who you think they are before getting to know them. This Newbery-honor book is a delight, and I very much recommend it. I am looking forward to reading its companion novel, Okay For Now, which also won a Newbery honor.

Disclosure: I bought this e-book on my nook.

Paula reviews The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

Title: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Harper, June 2012
How I got it: Received an ARC from the publisher
Rating: 3 Stars

Imagine you are going about your business one day and as you take your next step you find yourself in a field you've never seen before. When you step back, you find yourself back home. The Long Earth explores the possibility of parallel earths that are just a step away from our own. Once this phenomenon of "stepping" has been discovered- people all around Earth 1 "The Datum Earth" start wondering what is out there on the Long Earth and how it will change civilization as we know it. The main characters, Joshua - a natural stepper, and Lobsang - a super intelligent computer, in particular have a desire to explore the entirety of the Long Earth in an attempt to figure out why it's there.

My thoughts: There were a lot of really cool concepts in this book as well as a lot of things that didn't feel quite developed enough. The idea of The Long Earth and the consequences of its discovery is really awesome. Some immediate consequences were that people were stepping away from their lives to run away from their problems- one day they just stepped away from everything and just kept walking into the unknown. Other people and communities saw it as an attempt to restart civilization on a random Earth and see if they can do any better than what is on the Datum. The idea of an infinite number of Earths was really neat as well- because on each one, things were slightly different than the one before because evolution took a slightly different path.

But some things didn't feel like they were wrapped up completely... (and I cannot find evidence if there will be a second book or not). In fact, I really hope there is a second book because if this is a stand alone then I am pretty disappointed in the ending. If it is the beginning of a series/trilogy/something then I can see how this was just the setup for things to come.

Why I gave it a 3: As I mentioned above, the ending didn't feel resolved. Also, sometimes while I was reading I kept wondering "okay so where is the plot?" I get that Joshua and Lobsang were trying to travel to Earth Million (and beyond) to try and figure out why The Long Earth existed... but really that's all it was- they were traveling with small glimpses of the strangeness of what was below them. I don't know if maybe I was missing some greater point of "No really, what is the point of all of this" or if it really was lacking a bit plot wise. That being said it wasn't a bad book- the characters were enjoyable and so were some of the oddities they stumbled upon. I hope there is a continuation that really explores what has happened to the Datum earth now that the majority of people have fled to restart their lives. All in all, I think it's an interesting beginning to something- I just hope it's actually getting continued.

Kimberly's review of Travel to Tomorrow: Fifties Chix + Author Interview

Book: Travel to Tomorrow: A Fifties Chix book

Author: Angela Sage Larsen

How I got it: The publishers sent it to me

This is a bit of a... shameful thing. You see, I was sent this book ages ago. I mean, FOREVER. It's just a few months shy of a year ago that I received this book. I read it, and loved it. (As you will see in my review following.) I even got to interview the author! They gave me a number to call, and a time and I dialed into a conference call (I felt very spoiled, let me tell you that). I got to ask Angela questions about the book, herself and we ended up chatting about various other things, not just the book. It wasn't until after I hung up the phone I remember the other group of people that were listening to the conversation as well...

I had a review, as well as the interview all typed up. And then one of the worst things that can happen to a student and/or blogger happened. My computer died. It took weeks to fix, when I finally got it back I was scrambling to find all of my assignments that were due. It was several more weeks before I realized just how much I'd lost when my computer died. Including the author interview. I finally recovered it, and promptly forgot about it. (I'm sorry Angela, Sara and everyone else!) Then about 3 months ago I remembered (because I got an email from them...) and realized I needed to get it cleaned and ready to post to the blog. Then it happened again. My computer died. This time it took an even harder hit. I lost pretty much everything I had on my computer. It's a fixed and lovely now, working well with one of the best anti-virus systems my computer guy could find. Two weeks ago I was looking for an old paper I'd written that I wanted to reuse for another class, I found it along with (drum roll please) THE AUTHOR INTERVIEW! Unfortunately, it had been corrupted when the virus hit my computer, so I only have bits and pieces. What was an amazing interview, has turned into fragmented notes here and there left for me to interpret, trying to remember what it was I was talking about when I typed it. Kinda like going back and studying notes for an exam.

However, the book and being able to talk to Angela was just too much fun not to share, so here is the interview along with my review. Scrambled as it might be.

Review:

I've always been a sucker for time travel stories (hello Doctor Who). As I am sitting here typing this review I'm looking at my bookshelves and I can spot at least six of them that involve time travel. So when this book was offered to me, I was ecstatic. It was also the first time I'd been offered a book to review as a blogger that wasn't self published (nothing wrong with a self published book, of course). I got the book and my first impression? The cover was beautiful. I later found out why.

Here is the description of the book I stole from the website:

“n 1955 in the heartland of America, mismatched high school classmates Mary, Judy, Maxine, Beverly and Ann are assigned an intriguing social studies project by their eccentric teacher, Miss Boggs: they must predict what life will be like fifty-five years into the future. Little do they know that their grade is more than pass or fail; what they present to their teacher will turn their lives upside down. The day after the assignment, the girls mysteriously wake up in the very era they attempted to predict…and discover just how off-base they were. While venturing to solve the puzzle of their time travel predicament, they learn more about themselves and each other than they bargained for! Each Fifties Chix has a talisman that symbolizes a special talent that each one needs to navigate her new world and help them find the way back “home” to 1955.

Through diary entries and extraordinary story text, this book series unfolds the Fifties Chix, their hopes, dreams, secret crushes, friendships, mysteries, and families as they time travel and explore parallel worlds in time that prove to be both different and similar. The scenes are set and enriched with fascinating historical references, young love, adventure, intrigue, and lots of 1950s slang, facts, and culture.”

The characters are so very likeable. Some of them took me a chapter or two to really love, but all of them stole my heart by the time I was very far into the story. Each of them have unique personalities and traits about them that set them apart and give the reader more reasons to love them.

Then there is the mystery. Why did they travel in time? How? Some things haven't changed... But everything else is so very different from the world they knew. The characters grow and change living in this new world, and it was so fun to watch them adapt, but never abandon their true selves. It is interesting to see their time period compared with our own. It highlights just how much has changed, the good and the bad.

I feel like this is a rather vague review, but one of the delights of reading this book is I had no prior knowledge of the book. I didn't know what to expect.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys time travel, friendship stories, or just a flat out fun read. It's classified as a Middle to YA level, so it's suitable for about any age. Although some of the references to the 50's might be lost on younger readers. There is a lovely section in the back of the book that defines some of the slang and cultural references used.

I give this book 5 well deserved stars

Author Interview:

As if I didn't gush about it enough above, I had a BLAST getting to talk to the author. Angela was a delight to talk to. I loved getting to hear about the writing process, we also had a few things in common and drifted off topic a few times, it was fantastic.

I've been glancing through the notes and realized that some of the stuff could be spoilers, so I leave that stuff out but there is still some fun stuff to talk about.

I first asked when the next book would be out, because I was dying to know what was going to happen next after the BIG SPOILER happened at the end of the book. The next book is supposed to be out this year. (Yay for a sequel I don't have to wait 3+years for!)

I also asked why she had picked the 50's, it's one of my favorite time periods so I was curious what inspired her to write about it.

She said (and I'm having to paraphrase because of the fragmented remains of a document I'm pulling this from) That it was the Golden Era. It was a peaceful time... and yet there were so many things brewing under the surface. Civil Rights, Women's Rights...

Angela did a lot of research for the book, there was so much detail in the story that it was obvious. When I asked she said it took an entire summer just for the research, she wanted it to be as authentic as possible.

I asked if she had any favorite scenes, particular parts that she had enjoyed writing the most. She mentioned a few parts (that I can't say because it would be a spoiler, but they're wonderful moments) The scenes she mentioned are very character defining moments, as well as one rather powerful moment that happens early in the story.

Another question I had was about the cover. Like I said before, I loved it. I would have bought the book just for the cover. She told me that an artist, and forgive me, I can't remember who it is, did the cover for her. He actually found girls that looked like the characters and used them as models for the cover. For the first time I read a book with the characters on the front and they actually looked like they were supposed to.

I've lost most of the rest of the interview, but one last interesting thing. She and I were reading the same book at the same time. Actually, both of us have book ADD, in that we can't read just one book at a time. So while we were both reading multiple books at the time, we were both reading 'Shiver'. I was ridiculously pleased about that.

Okay, here are some fun links for you sent to me by the lovely publishing company.

This one is a fun, intereactive site:

http://www.thefiftieschix.com

This one has more information of what is to come:

http://premiere.fastpencil.com/angela-sage-larsen

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend As Good Beach Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Future topics can be found here.

I. LOVE. THE. BEACH.  

The ocean, the waves, the salty air and cool sea breeze.  Even the annoying seagulls who try to steal your food.  Going to the beach is an entire experience.  I love everything from picking the perfect spot to spread out your towel to frantically trying to brush off all the sand on your legs/feet before getting into the car to go home.  Luckily, there are many beaches near me.  Unfortunately, I have things like work which prevent me from going as much as I'd like!  But while at the beach having a book to read is a necessity, it's just as important as having a bottle of sunscreen!

Jen's Top Ten Books She'd Recommend As Good Beach Reads

1. Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen:  Really, any of Sarah Dessen's books are perfect beach reading.  Especially since most of them (if not all? I can't remember) take place in a beach town.
2. Are You There Vodka?  It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler:  The beach is not a place to read about a difficult topic or to read a book that will make you cry.  A humorous pick is definitely the way to go!
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:  A quick, classic read.  I try to read at least once classic each summer.  It reminds me of those dreaded summer reading lists in high school (which I secretly loved).
4. Wither by Lauren DeStefano: You'll probably end up with a sunburn if you read this at the beach.  You'll be so wrapped up in the story that you'll forget to reapply sunscreen!
5. MFW Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche: Okay, so I haven't read this book yet (still on the library wait list) but just from reading the summary it seems like a great book for the beach!
6. The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen:  Just an all around cute, fun read!
7. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson: The opportunity to go on a road trip without leaving the comfort of your favorite beach towel and view of the ocean.
8. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez:  Assigned summer reading one year in high school.  For some reason I distinctly remember bringing this book to the beach with me!
9. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:  Who knows, maybe you'll find some sort of treasure on the beach!  You could strike gold just by making a sand castle! 
10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins:  Does this book even need a reasoning?  

What are you top ten books you'd recommend as good beach (or poolside) reads?  I'll definitely need some new reading material for the summer!

The Host giveaway winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered our giveaway for The Host! And the 5 lucky winners are....

Mickey at @imabookshark
Michelle at Book Briefs
Holly
Ashley at Crooked Prose
Laceyblossom

I will be contacting the winner via email or Twitter! Thanks for entering!

Daisy Discusses Covers That Have Disappointed Me

So I know how it goes, 'don't judge a book by its cover' and all that. But here's the thing: secretly everyone does it. Cause it's usually the first thing you notice when you see a book. The cover and the title. Both are SO important if you ask me.
But enough on that, what I really wanted to share with you all are some of the covers that have disappointed me throughout my reading life of the past couple of years.

Man, I did not love this book! And the cover is so pretty!! I know, I'm probably a minority for not liking this series, but it just never worked for me and just looking at this cover makes me sad all over again... And seriously, ALL the covers for the books in this series are pretty! I read in a time where I hadn't learned to DNF yet, and I sort of skimmed through to the end, but for some reason the characters and the storyline just didn't grow on me.

Confession: I am still a sucker for a girl in a dress. I stumbled across this one when I had just finished Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series and couldn't get enough of the time period of late 1800s-early 1900s, so I thought I would just eat this up. Especially after someone described it as Gossip Girl in 1899. And I was just not feeling it and the story was nowhere near as gorgeous as that dress on the cover... I mean, I want to OWN that dress!

Look at that cover!! It's SO intriguing! I mean, I absolutely love it! But after reading 200 confusing pages wherein basically nothing happened, I gave up. I was really sad to DNF it, but I just couldn't do it anymore. And I KNOW, I'm probably a minority with this one as well, but it seems to be either hit or miss and for me it just, well, missed.

So this cover is one that I don't necessarily love. It's just that the cover was misleading (as well as the summary, but we're not talking about that right now). This cover made me expect a cute, fun summer read. And boy, was I DEAD WRONG. It was absolutely not fun or cute or anything remotely resembling either of those adjectives. To be honest, it was a bit depressing. If you're interested in my complete thoughts on it, check out my review on my personal blog.

This is quite possibly the most beautiful cover of 2010 and I was aching to get my hands on a copy and just devour it, cause with such a pretty cover you couldn't possibly go wrong, right? RIGHT??
Ahem. So yeah, basically this was 496 pages of an angel obsessing about her boyfriend and just being naive and too stupid to live. In my humble opinion. But did you know that Xavier was really hot? Cause it's mentioned, like, 500 times... For more opinions on this thing, check out my review on my personal blog and Jana's review on her blog.

So you guys might remember how I had issues with this book? And really, if you look at the cover closely you can see London. IN RUINS! And OMG, I am SUCH an anglophile, any cover that has the Big Ben or the Tower of London or the London Eye or basically, anything that has to do with London, will get my attention. And I love that she's pictured from the back and she's sort of in the shadows being all mysterious and making me say LET ME READ THAT!!! And well, yeah, it just absolutely wasn't my kind of book in the end.










So, there you go, my personal graveyard of the covers that have disappointed me. And I'm sorry if I offended anyone by disliking one of their favourite books (please don't yell at me...), I am very much aware that a lot of people have actually genuinely liked or loved these novels pictured above, but well, it's more interesting when people don't all have the same opinion right?

Now, tell me, what are covers that have disappointed you? Do you agree with me on some of these?