Top Ten Tuesdays [9]

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists 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 and 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.

November 11: Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their OWN Book (minor or just maybe a semi main character you wish a book was from their POV)

Kristen's List
1. PEETA MOTHERTRUCKIN MELLARK 
2. FINNICK MOTHERTRUCKIN ODAIR 
3. Tobias Eaton (his little novella thing doesn't count) 
4. Jem from The Infernal Devices (last name is totally not a thing that I'm remembering) 
5. Will Herondale! 
6. President Snow because that would have been super cool
7. Nikolai from the Shadow & Bone series 
8. Kellan Kyle (AND IT'S HAPPENING GUYS) 
9. Augustus Waters 

10. Johanna Mason 

BONUS: HAYMITCH 

Kelsey:
1. Morpheus from Splintered
2. Samm from Partials
3. Jeb from Splintered (I just really liked that book alright?)
4. Gabriel from Wither
5. Eio from Origin
6. Peeta from The Hunger Games
I'm having a hard time remembering which novels have switching POVs...
7. Linden from Wither
8.  Ky and
9. Xander from Matched (Did that happen? It's been a while...)

10. I quit...I want a guy perspective from Sarah Dessen

Review: Stay With Me

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Rating: 6 out of 10

Summary (Staying with Goodreads): At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.

But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.

Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom.

What I Think: Kristen did not like this book as much as I did. From what she told me, it didn't live up to her expectations. However, I liked it. I thought that it felt pretty well into this series (which isn't really all that much of a series). I love that you don't have to read this in order or really remember anything that happened in the other novels. 

I enjoyed the main characters as well as the fact that the old characters were tied in. I thought that the story was sufficiently interesting. It could have been more but most novels could be. But Kristen was right, this was a pretty long novel. Some parts seemed too unnecessary. They could've been cut but oh well is all I have to say about that.

Let's move on two my two major problems with this novel. Neither of these things were deal breakers, mind you. Firstly, the swearing. Swearing can be a good thing in novels. I mean, people swear. Face the facts. So, it's okay for books to swear too. They are supposed to be life like (sometimes). Now all that is true but when novels swear almost just for the sake of swearing, it seems off. This is one of those novels were the swearing just seems off. It's overdone. It stands out. It's just too much in this novel. I dealt with it.

Secondly, the chick in this novel has some seriously screwed up priorities. Like really, all this bad stuff is happening to you but you think that it's important for you to focus on the hot body? Try to think about the problems that you've got to deal with...you've got plenty of them! It drove me nuts. Sex this, sex that, sex, hot boy, sex, look the hot boy. STOP IT GIRL YOU GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS RIGHT NOW! She was killing me. I could look past it but only so much. Still, it stood out.

That said, the book was interesting. Try to focus more on the characters and their interactions than the plot, maybe. It helped me anyway.

Conclusion: It was good but not anywhere close to Jennifer Armentrout's best. I wouldn't recommend starting with this novel. Try another. If you've read her before than go for it! Don't listen to Kristen. I'm glad that I didn't.

Life of a Blogger [8]

Life of a Blogger is a weekly feature that I found through the amazing Rebecca at Vicariously! ,  hosted by the lovely Novel Heartbeat. Each week a subject will be chosen and we get to talk about it. The topics will be non-bookish so that you can get to know each other on a more personal level! Make sure to add your link on the linky list! 

This week's topic is: Concerts (i.e. the one's you've been too) 
Oh Lordy Lord, the concerts I've been too... this is going to take some serious brain racking. The most recent concerts I've been to are One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. I went to both their Toronto shows, and I know y'all are incredibly jealous. (Jealous/judging, two of the same right?) Other concerts I've been too are Coldplay and Marina and The Diamonds who performed together. Coldplay was amazing and I would go back tomorrow if I could. I've been to Hedley multiple times (they play a lot of free shows around where I live). I've seen Our Lady Peace and Theory of a Deadman. Shania Twain (holy crap, she was good), Hilary Duff, Jann Arden, Lifehouse and some French dude you probably haven't heard of. I'm 110% positive there are more people that I'm just not thinking of right now, so these are the one's that stand out! Have any of you seen these concerts? Maybe we were at the same show! 
- Kristen

I'm pathetic. I've mostly been to Christian concerts. I've been to rock and rap and pop and countryish christian concerts. I usually end up going through the church youth group. It's fine though because I've met a lot of the groups I listen to then. This includes one of my favourite bands with I met at Winter Jam in Detroit last February. I almost fainted. They were so nice and shook my hand and talked with me. It was magnificent. I've also been to see Finger Eleven and Scotty Mccreery and Jimmy Buffet (twice). Also, Robert Munsch did a live reading which I count as a concert. I'm sure there are more but I'm having a massive brain fart.

-- Kelsey

Top Ten Tuesday [8]

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists 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 and 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.

November 4: Top Ten Books I Want To Reread (or if you don't reread...would reread in an ideal world)

Kristen's List
1. Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
2. City of Bones (actually the entire series) by Cassandra Clare
3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (gotta do it before the movie) 
4. Wait for You by Jennifer Armentrout 
5. Thoughtless by S. C. Stephens 
6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
7. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
8. Angelfall by Susan Ee
9. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi 
10. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson 

Kelsey:

1. Splintered by A.G. Howard

2. The Taker by Alma Katsu (I actually am going to)

3. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

4. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

5. Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

6. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

7. Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

8. My Chemical Garden by Lauren DeStefano

9.  Virals Series by Kathy Reichs

10. Florence Series by Ciyo Cho

That was so easy.

Review: The Education of Hailey Kendrick

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Eileen Cook
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads educated me): Hailey Kendrick always does exactly what's expected of her. She has the right friends, dates the perfect boy, gets good grades, and follows all the rules. But one night, Hailey risks everything by breaking a very big rule in a very public way...and with a very unexpected partner in crime. Hailey gets caught, but her accomplice does not, and Hailey takes the fall for both of them. 

Suddenly, Hailey's perfect life--and her reputation--are blowing up in her face. Her friends are all avoiding her. Her teachers don't trust her. Her boyfriend won't even speak to her for long enough to tell her that she's been dumped.

They say honesty is the best policy--but some secrets are worth keeping, no matter the cost. Or are they?

My Thoughts on this beautiful novel: I don't think I've ever related to a novel like I related to this one. Okay so there was a lot different about her life: the dead mom, the boarding school, the being rich, the hot men in her life... ... ... I'm sorry, I was daydreaming, got distracted. What was I saying? Oh, right. Her life was do very different from mine. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't. There are so many things I would never dare try. I'm not a rule breaker. I am more afraid of the world than anything else. Honestly, it's true. Feel free to e-mail me if you ever wanna chat because I really am more afraid of you than you are of me. I could also understand why she eventually snapped. Who wouldn't snap with all that pressure she was putting on herself?

Since I saw so much of myself in Hailey, I feel in love with her. Okay, not in that way, I reserved that for the multiple nice guys in the novel. Unlike Hailey, boys have never been a problem in my life. Anyway, she didn't bother me. I can't think of anything about her that I didn't like (although, there must have been something).

I thought that her punishment was hilarious. It added a lot of comedy to the story. I loved that about it.

Her friends kind of made me man. Suddenly, they weren't there for her like I think they should've been. Would it have killed them to take a minute to listen to her side of the story? Probably not.

This novel was both easy and fast. It was also enjoyable. I caught myself laughing at a few parts. I also felt unbelievable anger during other parts. I've been avoiding high school stories lately but I'm glad I picked this novel up. It made me happy and was totally worth the time and money I spent on it. I'll just ignore that she was so much younger than me...

So, basically, I enjoyed this novel a lot. It was the first novel by Eileen Cook I'd ever read and I don't think that it will be the last. Can anyone recommend me some more good ones by her?

Life of a Blogger [7]

Life of a Blogger is a weekly feature that I found through the amazing Rebecca at Vicariously! ,  hosted by the lovely Novel Heartbeat. Each week a subject will be chosen and we get to talk about it. The topics will be non-bookish so that you can get to know each other on a more personal level! Make sure to add your link on the linky list! 

This week's topic is: Halloween 
I've never really been a Halloween fanatic. Halloween was kinda always just a night. I didn't even have that cool of costumes, like ever. I just remember I loved my neighbourhood because they gave out king sized candy bars. And we would all trick or treat together with a pizza party to finish it off. Hasn't happened in a few years, but apparently this year, Kelsey and I are going to have a super awesometastic Halloween movie party. So, that's a thing. I don't know. I guess in my head, Halloween is just an excuse to buy candy (which I really really don't need) and watch movies with friends, which is pretty cool I suppose. 
- Kristen

I used to work a haunted forest for the three weeks before Halloween. I liked doing that a lot. a few years ago I have a full on meltdown because I realized that I was an adult and that I couldn't go out for Halloween and I didn't want to go to any parties (that isn't really my thing) and that I couldn't even dress up and hand out candy (not that we get any more than three kids at our house) because I had to be in school and I cried and I was very upset. It was awful...just like that sentence. So, for the last three years, I've had night classes on Halloween. This is the first year I haven't and I'm happy about it but I'm even more of an adult now. I'll probably watch a few fake scary movies (Young Frankenstein, for the win) and wear one of my pretty masquerade masks.

-- Kelsey

Top Ten Tuesday [7]

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists 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 and 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.

October 28: Top Ten Books/Movies To Read Or Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit OR Top Ten Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween

Kristen: 
I'm not very Halloween-y homeslices, so I'm going to say that I'd like to dress up as Katniss Everdeen. Also, horror movies are so not my thing, so there's that. 

Kelsey: (I shall answer all of the above questions)
1. Dracula by Bram Stoker 
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3. Sister's Red by Jackson Pearce (I don't know this came to my mind but since it did it's going on this list)
4. Elphaba from Wicked
5. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz
6. Sherlock Holmes
7. Alyssa from Splintered although few will know you you are...
8. Young Frankenstein (movie)
9. Read some Grimm's fairytales, they are terrifying.
10. Oompa Loompas