Stacking The Shelves: March 29th

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, where you showcase all of your new books from the past week!

Here are my latest books:

Faking Normal by, Courtney C. Stevens

Going Rogue by, Robin Benway

The Shadow Prince by, Bree Despain

All The Truth That's in Me by, Julie Berry

Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend by, Louise Rozett

The Nightmare Dilemma by, Mindee Arnett

The Winner's Curse by, Marie Rutkoski

#16thingsithoughtweretrue by, Janet Gurtler

This is Not a Drill by,Beck McDowell

Better off Friends by, Elizabeth Eulberg

I had the amazing opportunity to meet Julie Berry and Courtney C. Stevens, so I got my books signed!

What did you all add to your shelves this week?

Up-and-Coming Young Adult Author Panel Recap and Giveaway

Leah Cypess, A.C. Gaughen. Tiffany Schmidt, Victoria Schwab, Courtney C, Stevens

This Monday I was fortunate enough to attend an Up and Coming Young Adult Author Panel at the Brookline Booksmith.The five phenomenal authors they had come in were Victoria Schwab (The Archived, Courtney C. Stevens (Faking Normal), Tiffany Schmidt (Bright Before Sunrise), Leah Cypess (Death Sworn), and A.C. Gaughen (Scarlet). Victoria Schwab had become one of my favorite authors last year when I fell in love with her Archived Series and Courtney C. Stevens made her way onto my radar this past month when I read her debut novel Faking Normal and found it a beautiful and thought provoking read. I was so excited to meet them and I loved talking to the other authors so much too that I have decided to go try their books as well! 

They started off the night letting people in the crowd shout out random numbers and the authors would flip to that page number and read an excerpt from their book to go the audience intrigued. I discovered something about authors during this time. They all have great reading voices. I loved hearing my favorite authors read sections from their books and also was very interested in getting a taste of what the other books were like. The authors then moved in to giving us an overview of their books and told us a little bit about themselves. When the authors were done giving their short blurbs a moderator took over guiding a couple discussions and then allowed the audience to raise their hands and ask questions. 

The questions raised from such things as where do you get your ideas to who is your favorite superhero? My favorite question asked, which I had not heard before, was, which is more important the first or last line of book? The authors had serious debate about this. Some felt it was the first line because that is what people are going to be looking at in a bookstore if they are trying to decided whether or not to but the book. Others thought that it was the last line because that is the last thing a person remembers from the book. They said that a book could be a great read but have a bad ending and most people will immediately remember the bad ending over the quality of the whole book. I was stumped myself as I agreed with both statements. 

After the discussions were over it was time for book signings! I always get nervous when meeting authors because to me they are celebrity's but everytime I discover the same thing. Authors are just regular people! I go up there and I will have a conversation with them as if they were my best friend and it is awesome. I got to meet one on one with Victoria Schwab and Courtney C. Stevens when they signed my books and they were everything I hoped they would be and more! They were even so nice and gave me some extra signed book swag so I could host a giveaway for all of you guys (enter giveaway at the bottom of this post)!

The night was so much fun and insightful! It was definitely a success!

Signed Books and Book Swag!

Giveaway Rules!

 

1. Giveaway is US only

2. Must be 13 years or older to enter

3. Winner must respond within 48 hours or I will choose another winner

4. I am not responsible for any lost, damaged, or stolen items



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Most Anticipated April YA Releases

Next week is April and you know what that means! Another month of all new book releases (and hopefully some warmer weather)! April has a wide variety of books coming out this month, ranging from romantic contemporary's, historical fiction, thrillers, retelling and much more.

 These are the top 10 April releases that I am most looking forward to!

#10 

The Geography of You and Me by, Jennifer E. Smith

I read Jennifer E. Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like last spring and thought it was so adorable. I hope this one is just as cute and loving as her others!

(CONTEMPORARY)

#9

Sleep No More by, Aprilynne Pike

I have been a fan of Aprilynne Pike's writing since her first series Wings. I have been told this one is much different then her usual fantasy novel but I always love a good thriller! 

(THRILLER/FANTASY)

#8

Far From You by, Tess Sharpe

This sounds like a fast page turner about a girl looking for her friends murderer.

(MYSTERY)

#7

Catch a Falling Star by, Kim Culbertson

A Girl gets payed to pretend to be a Hollywood star's girlfriend for while he is in town. This sounds like an interesting romantic read and I have heard great reviews about it so far. 

(CONTEMPORARY)

#6

Dorothy Must Die by, Danielle Paige

The girls on Epic Reads have been raving about this retelling for months now! 

(RETELLING)

#5

Prisoner of Night and Fog by, Anne Blankman

I love World War 2 historical fiction and this one has been getting fantastic reviews for months now!
(HISTORICAL FICTION)

#4

Love Letters to the Dead by, Ava Dellaira

This book sounds very original for a contemporary novel.

(CONTEMPORARY)

#3

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by, Jenny Han

I have been dying to get my hands on this one since the moment I read the fun and unique synopsis!

(CONTEMPORARY)

#2

Dear Killer by, Katherine Ewell

I have been very intrigued by this Dexter type book since Epic Reads pulled it out at their ARC Party this fall!

(THRILLER)

#1

The Hunt by, Stacey Kade

The first book in this series pulled me into the Sci-Fi world last year and I cannot wait to continue this journey!

(SCIENCE FICTION)

Waiting On Wednesday: The Hunt

Title: The Hunt (Project Paper Doll #2)

Author: Stacey Kade

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Publication Date: April 22nd 2014

Genre: Science Fiction

SYNOPSIS

from goodreads

Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life. 

But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.

Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?

WHY I'M WAITING

I read the first book in this series, The Rules, last year and it converted me into a sci-fi reader. I am eagerly awaiting this sequel and hope it turns out to as good or even better than the first book.

COMING APRIL 22nd 2014 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Bucket List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks Top Ten List is: Your Bookish Bucket List 

Justine's Bookish Bucket List 

1. Attend Book Expo America

I found out about Book Expo America the first year I started blogging and knew that someday I had to go. Now every year when I see bloggers posting recaps of BEA I get so jealous and it just makes me want to go more.

2. Meet Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen's books were the first books that really spoke to me as a teenager. Since then she has become like an idol to me and her books have always had a spot saved in my heart. If  I had the chance to meet Sarah Dessen it would probably be one of the best days of my life. 

3. Write a book

One of my goals had always been to write a book. I have so many ideas floating around in my head but I always seem to struggle with actually poutting them to paper. I want to have that sense of accomplishment of writing a book.

4. Have a library in my future house

I have so many books and I have this obsession with having to own everyone that I love(which is basically all of them). You probably know from the title of my blog that I turned my closet into a little library. I think the next step would be to have a whole, big, beautiful room just for my books.

5. Read over 100 books in 1 year 

I see these bloggers every year that read 150-200 books each year. I have just never been able to do that. My goal this year is to read 100 and maybe once I reach that milestone over 100 will be in my future. 

6. Read all of the TBR books in my house 

I have bookshelves in my house just devoted to just TBR books. I think it is about time that I started to focus on reading some more of those.

7. To live within walking distance of a funky independent bookstore 

I love funky independent booksellers with all the comfy reading nooks and wooden floors and tall bookcases full of books. It would be a dream of mine to be able to walk out of my front door every day and have the option of taking a 5 minute walk and get to spend the afternoon hanging in one of these bookstores.

8. Do a Read-a-thon

I have always wanted to sign up for a read-a-thon because they just sound so fun but I always seem to not have enough spare time.

9. Become friends with one of my favorite authors

Whenever I meet authors I think to myself that I could see myself being friends with them. I mean how cool would it be to be on regular talking terms with an author.

10. To have one of my tweets be read aloud on Epic Reads Tea Time show

I love Epic Reads and I watch their Tea Time Show every Wednesday. If you watch you that they keep track of tweets and read some to the audience during the show. I have been watching for months now and still one of my tweets has not been read out aloud. I cross my fingers every time that my tweet will be read.

Review: Faking Normal

Title: Faking Normal

Author: Courtney C. Stevens

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: February 25th 2014

Genre: Contemporary 

Pages: 321

Faking Normal follows the story of Alexi Littrell who refuses to tell anyone what happened to her over the summer. Alexi does her best to seem normal and copes by hiding in her closet and scratching the back of her neck. Then, Bodee Lennox comes to live with her family and she discovers a new friend who starts to help her realize that what happened to her is not her fault. Bodee starts to help Alexi heal herself and see that not everybody is going to take from you.
Contemporary novels used to be my favorite, but for some reason in the past year I have struggled to find many that speak to me the way one should. Faking Normal is the type of contemporary novel I have always loved. This is one of the books that you will pick up and by the time you put it down their will be a moment where you just sit and digest everything you have just read because I swear that this book will speak to you.
Faking Normal is one of those books that even if you cannot relate to the specific event in the book you can relate to the emotions. Everyone goes through some type of pain in their life where they bottle it up inside of themselves. In the book Alexi keeps her story to herself and pretends to act normal as a result she thinks there is something wrong with herself. This book made me feel for Alexi but it also made me feel for myself and in my opinion that is what makes an excellent contemporary read.
Courtney C. Stevens has one of those easy flowing writing voices. Her writing flowed from one page to the next and I never felt like there was a stall or dull point in the text. She wrote with a beautiful simplicity that was filled with a lot of emotion.Stevens was also fantastic at creating characters. Alexi and Bodee were perfect together and as individuals. Alexi is a character that you can really relate to and Bodee is the perfect remedy for a broken soul. I sure hope there is a Bodee out there for every girl.
When you combine the writing, characters, emotions, and message this becomes the perfect contemporary read. Courtney C. Stevens is a new YA author to look out for.
Faking Normal is the next book you should read.