Book Review: The Moon And More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More

By: Sarah Dessen

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Goodreads Description: Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.

I love Sarah Dessen's books! And this one is no disappointment! This is why she is my favorite author!

     First of all, it was good to get some more of Colby! I love that place and if I could, I would jump right in the book to live there. The perfect small town beach where people no each other, but it is still close to a city as well. My kind of paradise! 

     Then you have the main character, Emaline. May I just say, that is such a cool and unique name. She was a great character to read about. Strong but with vulnerability as well. Fun but still hardworking and kind of a control freak. Scared to try new things, but still willing to sometimes. She has the perfect balance to her character and that is why I loved reading from her point of view. 

     Emaline is a small town girl, getting ready to take on the "real world" and wants to enjoy one more summer before everything in her life that is familiar, changes completely. Plus, a girl that wants to become close with a father she barely ever knew. Plus, after a relationship with her high school boyfriend, Luke, ends she has to face a whole different looking future that she did not expect. 

     Theo, talk about a true New Yorker. In Colby for the summer, he is the perfect kind of change that Emaline needs. He is a fun, caring, and very enthusiastic person. But, to Emaline, it is a huge change and one she has to figure out if she is ready for. 

     Luke is Emaline's boyfriend of the last three years. Well that is until he does something to screw it all up. But, it may not have been the worst thing for both of them. And even after everything he is still the sweet guy who comes to help when Emaline needs someone the most. Talk about an amazing person!

     Clyde and Ivy. What a contrast in characters! You have Clyde, who is the laid back, calm, small town artist. He doesn't let his successful art change his small town roots. Then you have Ivy, who is a neurotic, demanding, sometimes just plain rude, documentary filmer. They both made the book interesting in their own way, especially when they were in scenes with each other or talking about each other. 

     Then you have Benji, Morris, Daisy, and Emaline's family. Can I just say that Emaline has a great support system and amazing people surrounding her in life. They are all fun and care about her so much that they would drop everything to help her out. She is a very lucky girl. 

All in all this book was so great! There are so many awesome lessons to be learned from Emaline and her summer story in this book. 

My Rating:

Top Ten Tuesday!!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke And Bookish

Top Ten Book At The Top Of My Summer TBR Pile!

1. The Moon And More by: Sarah Dessen (currently reading)

2. All I Need by: Susane Colasanti

3. Across The Universe by: Beth Revis

4. Wild Awake by: Hilary T. Smith

5. The Girl Of Fire And Thorns by: Rae Carson

6. September Girls by: Bennett Madison

7. Life After Theft by: Aprilynne Pike

8. Pulse by: Patrick Carman

9. Mind Games by: Kiersten White

10. Mila 2.0 by: Debra Driza

What is on the top of your To Be Read pile? 

Book Review: ARCLIGHT by Josin L. McQuein

ARCLIGHT (Arclight #1)

by: Josin L. McQuein 

Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi thriller

Goodreads Description:   No one crosses the wall of light . . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future—no matter how short and uncertain it may be. 

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.

When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?

An incredible book that sucked me in from the very beginning! You will NOT be able to put this book down! 

I don't even know where to begin. This book was just so amazing! It sucked me in to a completely different and terrifying world. I could not put this book down! 

Let's start off with the setting. A compound surrounded by a parameter of lights to keep out the dark. Everywhere is white and beaming. Beyond the compound is just darkness and unknown and death. Ya I would have to say I was biting my nails at the beginning. The "red-wall" is the alarm for when the compound is under attack by the creature called the Fade, and you begin the book with this happening. The way they describe the creatures look, and the sound of their giant claws scratching, it was down right scary. And the story about how the Fade became Fade! How the nanites (little particles meant to repair cells) were created to save humans but ended up taking over! That is so crazy to think about when you look at how far technology has come already!! This book really managed to freak me out and get me thinking about tons! 

The main character, Marina, was just simply amazing! I loved her character the entire book. She started out as a scared, confused girl but not like some characters from other books. She still had a fire about her the whole time. She didn't whine or complain at all but more kept to herself about stuff. She always had a certain strength to her that made me like her. Getting to watch her grow stronger through out the books was awesome! Also, the book keeps you on your seat the entire time, wanting to know what happened to Marina. She can't remember anything that happened to her when she was in the dark, but through out the book you get to see little clips as she remembers little pieces. I don't want to spoil anything, but lets just say WHATTTTT! Was not expecting anything like that! 

Tobin is an interesting character. He starts out very stand offish towards Marina, like he is disgusted with her because his father died trying to rescue her (don't worry, not a spoiler). But then in the crazy Red-Wall scene at the beginning, he rescues her and things begin to change between them. He becomes somewhat of her protecter, but at the same time she is his. It's pretty awesome how both of them need each other at certain times, and not just the guy saving the girl. 

I couldn't help but love Tobin by the end of the book but he wasn't the only guy that stole my heart! Who you might ask? Well you just have to read to find out. Also, if you want to know the CRAZY twist ending you should read the book as well! I recommend this book to everyone! It is officially one of my favorite books and makes me want to read more sci-fi! 

My Rating For This Book:

Book Review: Blog tour for The Space Between

Title: The Space Between

Author : Victoria H. Smith

Release date: April 2, 2013

Age Group: New Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours (click on the link to take you to the official tour schedule for other reviews, giveaways, guest posts, and author interviews.)

Links to find/buy the book!
Amazon - Click Here 

Goodreads - Click Here

Book Description:
When Drake started the night at his father’s campaign fundraiser, he never imagined he’d
end it being conned into buying drugs on the West Side. Losing high-stakes poker has its
consequences, but he’d repeatedly face them just to hear Lacey Douglas sing. Drake sees Lacey
light up the stage, and he has to have her. But his intentions for being on her side of town turn
out to be the reason he can’t.

Chicago native Lacey has dreams of the opera, but life has its obstacles. Lacey has come to know
her hardships as part of living in the real world and accepts them fully. When Lacey meets the
intense and invigorating Drake, a fire is lit inside her, unleashing those dreams again.

Two paths that should have never crossed prove to create the exact pairing the other needs. But when their worlds take time to catch up, everything they have is tested. Finding the space between the two sides that challenge them will be hard, but it’s the only place that will keep
them together.
The Space Between is a new adult contemporary romance. 

This book was so inspiring, passionate, and incredibly sexy! 

     From the moment I saw this cover I was totally intrigued by this book! Ill be honest and say that I totally judge books by their cover, and this one was so cute that I knew I had to read it! The story was also no disappointment! The two main characters, Lacey and Drake, are amazing. They are both strong, amazing people who would do anything for the people they love! 

     One of my favorite parts about this entire book was Lacey's character! It is always refreshing when I read a girl character like her because the helpless and super emotional girls get kind of tiring sometimes. It is nice to see a strong female lead! But, she is not one of those characters that are so strong they wall themselves off from everyone, she is also so caring about others. She gives up a lot of her life to stay home and take care of her mother, she goes out of her way to make Drake's sister like her and then does everything she can to watch out for her. She always seems to put other peoples needs above her own, which is inspring that she can do that. And her friend Margot, I love her too! Such a great friend, and funny! Such a positive outlook on life and is always dreaming big for Lacey! Everyone needs a friend like her! lol but maybe with a different job. 

     Drake is probably the character that surprised me the most. A rich, spoiled kid who liked to make some trouble and get into girls pants because he could. I did not think I would like him at all. But turns out that there is way more to him than I expected. I was glad I got to be so surprised by a character I thought I had figured out, but turns out I had quite wrong at the very beginning. 

    

     Another amazing thing about this book was the 2 point of views, in Lacey and Drakes POVs. I always love books that do this so that you don't miss any of the story because you are stuck with just one character the whole time! With characters this strong and interesting, it was nice to get details about both lives. 

     This book shows many hardships for the couple. It shows the difficulties of dating someone of a different race and from a different lifestyle. Even though Drake and Lacey are fine with their different lives, the people around them force them to have to hide their relationship. This was sad for me because they felt they needed to hide themselves, but I totally get it too. I understand that their were people in their lives that would not be okay with it and would have made things hard for them. I just love that they still chose to stick together through it. 

     Over all, I loved this book and I am so happy I read it! I would totally recommend it to people because it has a lot to teach people and also is just an amazing story! 

My Rating of The Space Between: 4.5

About the Author

Social Media links: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

     Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing
romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her
right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-
something characters she writes give her an earful about it.

     In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets
on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science
fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes.

Waiting On Wednesday!

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking The Spine

The Burning Sky (The Elemental Trilogy #1)

Genre: Young Adult fantasy

To be out on September 17, 2013

Goodreads Description:             It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to revenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

      Now, no one can tell me that they read that description of the book and did not think "OMG I must read this!!!" This book sounds so amazing! I am so pumped for it to come out! and just looking at the cover makes me want to read it!! MAGIC, LOVE, and TOTAL KICK BUTT AWESOMENESS!! 

This book sounds 100% fantastic! Can't wait to get my hands on it! 

Top Ten Tuesday!

This meme is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

Topic of this tuesday: 

Top ten favorite books I read before I was a Blogger:

1. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

2. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

3. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

4. Ugly Series by Scott Westerfeld

5. Any Sarah Dessen book

6. Any Susane Colasanti book

7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

8. Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers

9. The Host by Stephanie Meyers

10. Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare