Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours: Review of Rock Star's Girl by: J.F. Kristin

ReadingNook Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5 

My Review: (spoiler alert) Emily Watts is the epitome of a RockStar groupie, but not by choice, her friend, Jesse who also plays into some serious confusion on his part as to if they are just friends, or if they are more then that. She's a low-key runner of a fashion website as long as writing editorals for a magazine. But overnight, with the help of lead singer Cory Sampson. She becomes a tabloid sensation and her website and column explode with popularity. Is dating a superstar all its cracked up to be? or will the headlines ruin not only her relationships but her career as well.

I loved the synopsis of this book and knew the first time that I read this, that I needed to read this book. I've always loved music, and has a crush or two on some rockstars of my own haha. I loved the characters, and I couldn't put this book down because I kept wanting to know what would happen next in Emily's life, and like a true chick-lit book, disaster after disaster ensues in Emilys life, as bits and pieces come tumbling down all around her. 

A couple things about this book stood in the way for me to give it 5 stars, first is the cover!! while it is very beautiful it looks like she'd fall for a country star not a rockstar, and I wish it had more of a rockstar appeal. Also, why couldn't either Jesse or Cory be a good guy in the end?? I felt like the end left me sad and with so many questions. It lead you to believe that she found a new guy and that she was happy, but the whole book I was rooting for either Jesse or Cory, and was left with nothing. 

As always though this is just my opinion and none of this was a deal-breaker for me. I by no means think a 3.5 star rating is a bad thing at all, and when it comes by my star ratings that means a book I really enjoyed but had some elements that didn't do it for me. I think J.F. Kristin is a fabulous writer, and in no way think   that what was missing was good writing, because she had me captivated with her words from the first page. If you like chick-lit and rockstars definetly pick this book up!! 

My October TBR Pile!!

A Very Massive TBR pile if I could get through half of these I would be estatic, but I like to think big... lol

It's my Blogs 1st Birthday!!!! +Giveaway!!! (CLOSED)

So I started this blog a year ago today, and while I wasn't so active in the beggining I definitely grew to love posting and chatting to all my lovely followers!! So what way to celebrate them to share a giveaway for you guys, made of AWESOME!! 

Some Blog Stats from my First Year:

Followers I gained: 87

First Review Posted: Step on a Crack By: James Patterson

Keywords to find my blog: Big Book Piles, The Reading Nook

Most Traffic comes to my blog through: ChickLitPlus.com (which I do blog tours with)

I've grown a lot over this year as a blogger and in writing my reviews. As you can see my first reviews on my blog were so short, and overtime they grew and were more in depth. I'm glad i've met all you wonderful bloggers and followers and can't wait for many years to come!

Now For The Giveaway!!! 

There will be 4 winners!! The first winner will win one of these two books (just wanted to clarify that all three of these books are ARCs) below! 

The Second Winner will win whatever book is left, and the last two winners will win a swag pack of awesome!!! 

Rules:

Must be a follower (sorry but this is to celebrate my followers)

USA AND CANADA only 

Leave a comment below with what two books you would pick if you won the first prize (this is not definite unless you win first place)

Also leave your email address (so that I can contact you)

Winners will be chosen by Random.org

Contest open until October 7th 11:59 pm EST

Winners will be contacted on October 8th

In My Mailbox week ending Sept. 25th

IMM is a Meme hosted by Kristi over @TheStorySiren.com where you show the books you got over the week.

For Review:

(signed) From the Author!! Thanks Denise!!

Thanks Eric @QuirkBooks

Gifted: 

Thanks To Alexis!!!

Bought:

The Finished Copy is freakin' Awesome!! So well made!!!

What did you guys get in your mailboxes this week??! 

Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours: Review: The Last Page by: Lacy Camey

ReadingNook Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Norah feels like she's hit rock bottom after her major league baseball star boyfriend leaves her for another woman, a woman who's carrying his baby!! She puts her energy into starting anew and putting all her anger into her fashion designs but the only thing that seems to keep her happy is creating doggie couture for her love in the form of herdpg, but has she had a genius idea? 

Lacy Camey has a great voice for chick-lit, I loved her writing style, what she wrote felt relevant and current, and reading it felt like reading a story about a close friend instead of a fictional character that I couldn't relate too. This story was light and romantic and funny, exactly what I think a perfect chick-lit book is made of. I cant wait to read the rest of the series, and think Lacy has a strong voice and will be around for along time to come!!






About The Author: 

Lacy Camey is a fiction writer and lives in Houston, Texas with her musician/producer/songwriter husband, Joel, and has a cat who acts like a dog, named Blue. When she isn't writing, or collaborating with her husband, she enjoys being outside, running, working out, reading, cooking, is a huge movie buff and loves watching reality shows on Bravo, especially The Real Housewives franchise. She loves having fun, enjoying the life God has given her and loves to encourage others to follow their bliss. She secretly dreams of going on the Amazing Race with her husband on CBS but is still trying to convince him to audition. Every book written by Lacy Camey purchased by others, a portion goes to supporting an orphanage in Southern America. Lacy has plans to build an orphanage very soon with proceeds from her books. You can stay updated on the process at her blog at www.lacycameywrites.com.

Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour Review & Guest Post- Until the End of Forever by: Shannon Hart

ReadingNook Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review:

Sarah Matthews has what most people would call a perfect life; the perfect marriage; perfect kids; a beautiful and warm home, and friends that stick by her through it all. But when Sarah starts to feel somethings missing and questions her happiness does her world really begin to turn upside down. Was she really unhappy or did she just need to take a step back and see what she's had right in front of her along? Will this quest to find happiness lead her in the right direction or will her so-called medicore life come crashing down around her, and will her "perfect" life be a thing of the past?

This story was a really fun, and entertaining story. I felt like I was flying through the pages and I loved the relationship between Sarah and Rob, I mean seriously how amazing is Rob? he's like super husband and handsome to boot!! 

The reason for the 3.5 star rating for me (and trust me that dosn't mean I thought the story was bad by any means, I really enjoyed it) was because for me, I felt like something was lacking, certain parts of how the story panned out kind-of fustrated me. I wish Sarah came home on her own accord and not because of a death of a close-family friend. I also wish she did more self-discovery in Paris, seeing that's what her whole trip was about, and my last little pet peeve was that she kept saying, "There's something wrong with me, I need to see a therapist", which towards the end of the book made me want to shake her silly and tell her TO JUST GO ALREADY!! 

Now with that being said, I did really enjoy the book I loved all the characters, although Sarah at times fustrated me. The story was fresh and something that most married couples can relate too, that even "perfect" relationships can get stale and monotonous and sometimes need some freshing up. I think the story had a few really great messages, and the Romantic Rob made me swoon more then a few times.

Overall, You guys should go check this book out, although a couple things fustrated me, nothing was a deal-breaker and I still really enjoyed the story. 

Guest Post with Author Shannon Hart:

Second Time Around There is a common assumption that when you’ve done something once, the second time is easy. For me personally, perhaps this is true, but for things like riding a bike or traveling. If you’ve been to Paris once before, you’d already know that the airport is massively large, traffic into the city in the morning on weekdays is packed, and that it costs roughly Euro 55 to 65 for a cab ride to get from the airport to somewhere like Opera or Place Vendome. But when it comes to something like writing, I can’t say I found it easy the second time around. In fact, if anything, it was more challenging than before. Why, you ask? Well, for a number of reasons actually. Like for one, it’s because I wanted to manage expectations. See, when my first manuscript was ready and before it was published, I had already shared it with a few trusted friends who I knew would be able to give it to me straight. For the ones that loved it, I felt like they had high expectations for the second one. Before I even started writing the second one, they were already asking me when they would see a second one and whether it would be as good as the last, so disappointing them was the last thing I wanted to do. In order to succeed in doing that, my go-to strategy was to make it different. If it was different than the last, how were they going to be able to compare it? So I did exactly that – my second book (yet to be published) has a younger line-up of characters, a single-but-in-a-complicated-relationship kind of storyline, and has a big focus on friendship. The other issue I had was tone and manner. I’m the type of person that you can read like an open book. I say whatever is on my mind, my facial expression gives me away all the time, and I normally write my main characters the way I speak. My challenge was, if Sarah already spoke like me in Until the End of Forever, I obviously couldn’t write my new heroine like me too, right? The key to managing this and avoiding my two characters to sound way too similar was to profile my new heroine, and set her profile next to Sarah’s. I had pictures pasted into a sketchbook that I thought looked like the Sarah I had in my head as well as my new character, along with jotted down profile notes like where they were born, where they grew up, what kind of upbringing they had, their career choice or major, how they ranked academically, and a bunch of other factors that may affect one’s personality, choice of words and choice of references. I basically created “real” people, in order to get the tones right. It was a lot of work and a lot of nitty-gritty details, but I thought it worked out well. I could name a few other issues I had that contributed to the challenge of a second novel, but I don’t want to crash Laura’s blog J. What I will add though, is that besides the challenging parts, I have to say there was one thing that made a big difference between writing the first and second manuscripts: confidence. Having already finished one book before and having more than one person actually enjoy it and say it was good helped build a confidence level that I didn’t have when I was writing the first one. Heck, when I was writing Until the End of Forever, halfway through chapter 17, I wasn’t even sure what my ending was going to be like! I had no idea what was going to happen with Rob and Sarah’s marriage, and there was a short period of time that I was worried I’d never know, and thus would never finish. I was already imagining the script just collecting viruses in my computer never having been finished. But the second time around, I knew I had the ability to finish it. Confidence worked like creative trigger for me. It was like some sort of self-motivating therapy because the more I told myself I could, I really could. The selected few who have read the finished manuscript even noticed that there was a more confident and bold feel to it – exactly what I was going for. Of course, not everyone is the same. I might have gone through things that other writers have not encountered at all – and that’s perfectly okay too. Everyone’s writing experience will be different. The important thing is that we do write. If writing is your passion, no matter what challenge or obstacle you are presented with, just never stop writing. It keeps you sharp, it keeps you creative, and it keeps your passion alive and burning, which is the way it should be. One very last thing that is similar between writing the first and second book: I always get very excited and anxious to share it with everyone! So do stay tuned!

IMM week of September 18th

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren where you show books you've won, bought, recieved for review, borrowed, traded, etc.

Bought:

So Last week I said It was my last Borders haul, BUT I went once more and this is my last haul seeing they close their doors forever in 3 hours :( 

I purchased all of these books for a grand total of $32 dollars!! All are for me except for; wicked lovely, fragile eternity, and crusade, which I picked up for a friend! 

Gifted:

All thanks to Alexis!! Thanks so much again for sending me these great books! 

What did you get in your mailbox this week??

Review: The Babysitter Murders by: Janet Ruth Young

ReadingNook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Dani Solomn seems like a normal 17-year old girl, she's a high school student, a babysitter to a cute little boy, Alex, and a popular to boot. Dani isn't all that she seems though she's keeping a dark secret from her friends and loved ones. She keeps having disturbing visions of hurting and even killing people that she cares about the most. The visions are strongest when it comes to Alex, the young boy she babysits for, and the visions are so vivid that she feels she might really do it. She discloses the information to Alex's mother, and things take a frightful turn, the cops are called, and she runs the hate from the interweb and the newspapers that are claiming she's a potential child killer.

This book took me on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, at first I was not convinced that I would enjoy this book, but was drawn to it, simply because it deals with a psychological problem. Dani deals with a type of OCD that consists strictly of delisional thoughts that consume her mind, which is a face of OCD i've never read anything about, which drew me too this.

I felt the book to drag on a bit in the beginning and was a bit slow, but it was worth the wait. Once I got like 150 pages into the story it became excited, and page-turning, and I couldn't wait to find out what the outcome of Dani's devastating situation would be. If you like books that deal with issues of Psychology in the YA genre then this is def. a book that you would enjoy!

In My Mailbox week ending Sept 11th

IMM is a meme hosted by Kristi over at the Story Siren Where you show what books you've recieved over the past week, whether they were gifted, bought, borrowed, etc.

Bought: ( This week I went a bit crazy at a borders closing sale!! but I got all these great books for $38)

-Rumors (Luxe #2) by: Anna Godberson

-Clockwork Angel by: Cassandra Clare

-Bleeding Violet by: Dia Reeves

- Small Town Sinners by: Melissa Walker

-Girl Parts by: John M. Cusick

-Heist Society by: Ally Carter

-Prisoners in the Palace by: Michaela MaColl

-Wicked Girls by: Stephanie Hemphill

-Specials by: Scott Westerfeld

-Chasing Brooklyn by: Lisa Shroeder

-Stargazer by: Claudia Gray

-The Dark Divine by: Bree Despain

-Guardian of the Gates by: Michelle Zink

- The Morganville Vampires #2 by: Rachel Caine

- Hush Hush by: Becca Fitzpatrick

The Compound by: S.A. Bodeen

-Also picked up Bright Young Things by Anna Godberson for my Nook (Free this week)

Gifted:

Thanks to my good friend Krista over at the Cubicle Blindness

Both from my good friend Laura over at Books are Precious Gems




What did you guys get in your Mailboxes??

After Obsession Review +Giveaway!! (CLOSED)

Book Info:
written by: Carrie Jones & Stephen Wedel
expected publication date: Sept 13th, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages from Bloomsbury USA Childrens Books

My Review: 

ReadingNook Rating 3 out of 5 stars

Now unlike the norm I wasn't a huge fan of the Need series by Carrie Jones, BUT I read the synopsis of this book and knew I had never read anything with such a premise before, and I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of it! 

After Obsession follows a boy named Alan who after the death of his uncle moves across the country with his mother to live with his Aunt and cousin Courney. The storyline alternates between the perspective of Alan and Courtney's best friend Aimee. There's something not right with Courtney and both Aimee and Alan realize it soon into the book, Alan feels a weird prescence in his aunt's house soon after moving in, Was this the reason he really came here?

I'm not going to get into great detail about the book because I feel like there was so much going on that it would be hard to really get into detail without spoiling something, but this book is creepy, and very unique. While I did enjoy this book I almost was hoping for more of a creepy-ness factor and kind of had quite a few that's it? moments and moments that the story just dragged on for me, Which is why I gave it the three star rating. I didn't dislike this book at all, I just wish it went a little further into the creepyness, and that I was hoping for more from the story. This book is def. a great book for Halloween so if you like creepy books with a unique twist you should def. pick it up this coming Oct.

Oh and I don't think i'll ever look at cheetos again without looking for Marilyn Monroe! (you'll understand when you read the book)

GIVEAWAY:

The Rules are:

US ONLY (sorry no P.O. Boxes, at request of the publisher)

You must be a follower!

Comment Below with what your favorite halloween read is

Include your email address (so that I can contact winner)

Winner has 72 hours to respond to email, before new winner is contacted!

Contest will end on Sept. 17th 11:59pm EST


Congrats to Lucy at TheReadingDate!

Waiting on Wendsday (2)

Goodreads Summary:


Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. 

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door

Expected publication: September 29th 2011 by Dutton

New swoon-worthy characters, and after Anna and the French Kiss i've been begging for more, can't wait to have another late night Swoon-fest thanks to Stephanie Perkins!!! 

Teaser Tuesday: Trailer Time!!

Teaser Tuesday (2)

 Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Mizb at Should be Reading. It's where you open to a random page of a book your reading, and share a line or two from the page (try to make sure it's not a spoiler!)


This week's Teaser Tuesday is from:

"The boy is not terrible to draw, though" Zuzana went to the mirror and flipped wisps of dark hair across her forehead. 

"Got to give him that."

"Yea too bad he's such a gargantuan asshole."

" A giant, stupid orifice," Zuzana agreed.

I recieved a four chapter preview of this book and let me tell you it's artsy and quirky, and I can't wait to read the finished copy! 

Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour: Twenty Eight and a Half Wishes by: Denise Grover Swank

ReadingNook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wow what a completly swoon-worthy book!! I haven't read a book that made me swoon as much as this book since Anna and and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Both books kept me up til the wee hours of the morning, simply because I was so enthralled in the story that I couldn't put it down. The main character Rose Gardner is a completly sheltered 24 year old girl, so when her over-bearing mother is mysteriously murdered, she decides that it's time she lives her life, but not until she see's a vision that she's going to do in less than a week does she really push to live her last 28 and a half wishes, that she wrote on the back of a Walmart reciept.

Her mysteriously handsome next door neighbor Joe helps her fufill this dreams she has, but also have some secrets of his own, which might lead to what really happened to Rose's momma. This book is full of twists and turns, and OMG I didn't see THAT happening moments and I loved it!! Rose is such a loveable character, and her nieve and shelteredness makes her unique and a quite powerful character. She grows dramatically within the pages of this book and Denise Grover Swank takes you along for the ride. This book has it all mystery, intrique, and a lot of swoon-worthy romance. I loved it, this book def. topped my favorite books of 2011 list, and Denise Grover Swank is now an autobuy author for me, meaning whatever she writes, I will buy! You def. need to get your hands on this book, I promise you won't be disappointed.

IMM week of Sept 4th

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren where you show books you've won, bought, recieved for review, borrowed, traded, etc.

Won: 

Thank you to Random Buzzers via #labordayreads giveaways

For Review:

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

Thanks again to Simon and Schuster!

Thanks to Publisher! (This is my 2nd copy so I sent one off to a friend!)

Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley

Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley

Thanks to MacMillan and Netgalley

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley

SO I had a pretty EPIC week this week, let me know what you guys got in your mailboxes this week!! 

August Recap:

So I had a pretty good bookish month as far as reading, I read alot of highly anticipated books and loved a lot of what I read. I'm not sure who hosts the monthly wrap-up posts so if someone knows please let me know so I can give credit where credit is deserved!! Thank you

My Favorite Book for August was: 

During August I Read:

Ashfall by: Mike Mullin
Legend by: Marie Lu
Twenty Eight and a Half Wishes by: Denise Grover Swank
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: Michelle Hodkin

The Goddess Test by: Aimee Carter
Clean by: Amy Reed
OyMG by: Amy Fellner Dominy
Go the F*ck to Sleep by: Adam Mansbach
                                                      The Hijab Boutique by: Michelle Khan
                                                      Sloppy Firsts by: Megan McCafferty

Pride and Predjudice and Zombies by: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Don't Lick the Phones by: Britney Bronte

Reading Totals:


Total Books Read: 12 books 
Total Page Count: 3,286
Currently Reading Now: 
Tales From Frewyn: Page 29 of 148 Pages
The Twisted Thread: Page 26 of 374 Pages

December Moon by: Suzy Turner- Excerpt!!

Description: 

On her 15th birthday, December Moon realizes shes a descendent from a family of witches, kept in the dark her entire life in an effort to protect her. But when Lilly, her best friend, finds herself in danger from one of the worlds most evil vampires, December will do anything in her power to stop him. December Moon is a fantasy novel for children and young adults set in BC,  Canada. 

Excerpt: 

I’m going to see Rose,” Lilly yelled to whoever was still in the house, as she pushed open the front door and bounded towards the forest, taking in the fresh scent of the cool damp air. Running as fast as she could, you would be forgiven for not noticing that she wore nothing but a smile. The moment her body was hidden among the trees, she hopped onto a large boulder and looked around before jumping down. 

Before her feet even hit the ground, Lilly was no longer a small and slim fourteen year old girl with bobbed black hair, but the most graceful and beautiful black mountain lion. The transformation that took place was no longer the painful and awkward motion of her initial changes, but one of speed and elegance. Rose had taught her well. 

The speed with which she travelled through the trees that led to her aunt's house was courtesy of Sammy Morton, the man who would have been her brother-in-law had her sister lived. Sammy and Lilly spent hours and hours racing each other from one end of the forest, around Powell River, to the mountains where the Elders resided. Lilly was no longer a child. She was becoming a fine young woman, and an even finer specimen of mountain lion. If people knew the truth about her, she would be the envy of many. At least that's what Rose told her. Lilly always struggled to believe that herself.

Coming to a standstill among the fallen leaves, Lilly stood regally, checking her surroundings carefully. There was a hint of something in the air, something out of the ordinary. Her senses were on full alert as she silently padded through the trees. All was silent, a little too silent. There were no chirping of birds, no rustling of insects, even the wind seemed to have completely died down. She stopped again, careful not to make any noise herself.

A familiar scent filled her nose. Rose was here too. Lilly turned and saw her aunt, not in human form, but as the feisty lynx that was her changeling form.

'Do you sense it?' Rose asked of her niece. The two were only able to communicate in feline form by reading each other's minds. It was a useful sense to have.

'I do. It's not something I'm familiar with. Any idea who or what it is?' replied Lilly as she sniffed the forest floor.

'It could be a bear. We haven't had any around here for quite some time, which would explain why you don't know the scent.'

Lilly nodded acknowledgement and saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.

Rose noticed it too and the two of them slowly and silently followed the scent, and the movement.

Suddenly an almighty roar filled their ears. Rose was right. A large brown bear appeared from behind a massive downed tree that lay on its side. But something was not right. The bear was injured, severely injured. He howled in pain.

'Lilly, stop. Do not approach him. Keep hidden. There's something else here. Something... something's very wrong.'

The bear began to fall to the ground, just a hundred or so metres in front of them. As it fell, it took its final breath and just as it hit the ground, its massive form changed. It was no longer a bear, but a large man with thick brown curly hair, part of which was matted with blood.

Lilly caught her breath and stood motionless, watching. Through the trees came another creature, a creature that was wholly unnatural. At first glance it looked like an ugly man but on closer inspection, long fangs distended from his lips and long claws shot out from his fingertips. His face was as pale as the moon that shone down on them, giving just enough light to see him from afar.

The beast pounced on the corpse and began frantically feasting on his blood.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JOXSZ6

*This Book is Part two in the Series, you can purchase both books in the series at the link above! Also check out my  rave review for Raven HERE!!!

Suzy Turner: http://suzyturner.com