Waiting on Wednesday: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Try Not to Breathe

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I found these two while browsing on Goodreads. The titles and covers caught my attention. Just from the summaries, I know these would be awesome. Can't wait for next year! Seems like contemporary YA are one of the genres to rule 2012.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Hardbound: 256 pages

Release date: January 2nd, 2012

Publisher: Poppy

Goodreads Summary: Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18B. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard  

Hardcover: 272 pages

Release date: January 19th, 2012

Publisher: Viking

Goodreads summary: Ryan spends most of his time alone at the local waterfall because it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive. He’s sixteen, post-suicidal, and trying to figure out what to do with himself after a stint in a mental hospital. Then Nicki barges into his world, brimming with life and energy, and asking questions about Ryan’s depression that no one else has ever been brave enough—or cared enough—to ask. Ryan isn’t sure why he trusts Nicki with his darkest secrets, but that trust turns out to be the catalyst that he desperately needs to start living again. 

What are you anxiously waiting on this week? Just leave a comment of the link to your WoW post!

Don't forget to enter our First Ever Giveaway if you haven't!

Top Ten Tuesday (2): Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For

Button from The Grammarian's Review

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This week is about either books you loved and couldn't bring yourself to write a review for or books that you read long before blogging.
I decided not to include those books I always mention and loved but also never reviewed.

(In no particular order)

• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: I read this in late 2009 after finishing the Twilight Saga. It sparked my interest since it's all about werewolves and I've had heard great things about it. It did not disappoint! I loved it so much, especially Maggie's writing.

• Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh: I know. I was first taken aback after reading a few pages of this one. It was completely not what I expected to be. Still not appropriate for my age but I think this series is amazing. 

• Graceling by Kristin Cashore: I think this one of the best YA fantasy I've ever read. Mary Ann lent me this one October last year. The heroine was one of my favorites and the author just managed to blew me away.

• Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward: Another adult fantasy series I dared to read. I just thought of exploring outside of my comfort zone and decided to read this series last summer. I loved it so much. The romance was still too much for me but the books are still my favorites nonetheless. JR Ward introduced me to vampires who don't much favor feeding off from humans for a change. And I think it's brilliant.  

• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: Oookay. So this one's an all-time favorite. I tried writing a review for it but found myself unable to. Let's just say it's a MUST READ for anyone. I can't imagine a person who wouldn't at least like it.

• Please Ignore Vera Dietz: I always thought this should be way more popular than it already is. It is also a Printz Honor awardee for this year. I loved how this doesn't have any romance yet I still think it's fantastic. Vera Dietz is effortlessly classy.

• Divergent by Veronica Roth: I don't probably have to say why.This would be as famous as THG and I don't have anything bad to say about it. I know I'm pretty biased because all Dystopian books I read, I loved. I didn't even attempt to write my thoughts about it because I know I couldn't

• Dekada '70 by Lualhati Bautista: I am so proud of this book. This was assigned to us to read for school last year in my Filipino subject. It's not  YA and it's about the life of a family during Martial law period. I believe that this should be translated into different languages and show its awesomeness in the whole world. 

• After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick: Another award-winning book from Pennsylvania. It's the sequel of Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie which I  also loved. It's very poignant and hilarious and I fell inlove with the characters from the start.

 Comment with your list or your link to it so we can check them out!

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Hardcover: 257 pages

Release date: February 14th, 2012

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Source: NetGalley

Amazon ││The Book Depository ││ Barnes and Noble

Goodreads Summary: Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.

After reading this book, my first thought was to reread and go through its brilliance over again. Another was: This book is one of the reasons why I love contemporary. The idea that this might happen to someone in real life is tremendous. It was also the first time that I got hooked from the very first page because most of my favorites are quite dull at the beginning. I just wish they gave the summary it deserves. It would not have strike me as interesting if it wasn’t for the cover and rating.

Lucy is obsessed with finding Shadow, the artist who paints great canvasses around the city with his friend, Poet. We all know at the beginning that Ed is Shadow and he and Lucy know each other quite well from two years ago. Their story is a proof that the person you’re looking for might be standing right in front of you. You just have to stop looking and start seeing.

I loved how Cath Crowley incorporated art. She made it be appreciated even by those who don’t have a talent with it. I have felt like I’ve delved into Lucy and Ed’s head every time they describe and give meaning to every graffiti moon Shadow and Poet made. The sense of peace Lucy felt, I felt. And I don’t blame her for liking Shadow’s character. His depth as an artist was as profound as when he is Ed.

Ed, Lucy, Leo, and even Jazz were very remarkable characters. I guess ‘remarkable’ is an understatement since I’ll remember them for a long time. Ed is an introvert and a very flawed guy. It’s a great move for Crowley to create a main character that had loved someone else before the heroine. It made him more real and just like Lucy, it makes my hope soar high for a living guy like him. Lucy is consumed with the idea of meeting her potential Mr. Right, Shadow. She’s peculiar in a way but I think that what makes her really cool. She’s a no-nonsense person and a kind of girl I’d want to have as a friend in real life. The way she sees and interprets what she perceives is enviable. She and Ed are like two puzzle pieces fit for each other.

The book also has a few chapters written in poetry from Leo aka Poet’s POV. All of them are short but enough to know what’s on his mind. I’m not a big fan of poetry but I had fun reading it on this one.

Graffiti Moon is full of passion for art and literature, hope, romance, and adventure. I therefore conclude that Australian YA authors are to watch out for. It’s pathetic since Melina Marchetta and Markus Zusak are both Australians and I came into realization just now.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kopf Books for Young Readers for providing an e-galley of this book. 

Completely smitten!!

Friday Hops

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee.

This week's question: 
If you could write yourself a part in a book, what book would it be and what role would you play in that book?

 I love Dystopian and Contemporary books, but for this one I think I'd choose to be in the world of Shadowhunters and Downworlders of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Being a shadowhunter seems fun and I'd LOVE to meet guys like Jace and Simon. 

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy for Books for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word and to connect with other bookworms, make new friends, support each other, share our love of books! 

This week's question:

TGIF is a weekly feature for Fridays hosted by Ginger at GReads! to re-cap the week’s posts and that has a different question each week.

This week's question:

Have you ever read a book and not wanted to review it? Are some books too personal that we want to keep our thoughts our own?

Yes. Most of them are contemporary books. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, On The Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta, and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway here if you haven't! Have a great weekend everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday: Everneath and Shooting Stars

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Hardbound: 384 pages

Release date: January 3rd, 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

Goodreads Summary: Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. 

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Spent a whole 5 minutes just staring at the cover. GORGEOUS.

Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby 

Hardcover: 272 pages

Release date: February 28th, 2012

Publisher: Walker & Company

Goodreads summary: Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.

I'm a huge photo enthusiast. And it releases on my birthday!!

What are you anxiously waiting on this week? Just leave a comment of the link to your WoW post!

Don't forget to enter our First Ever Giveaway if you haven't!

It's Monday! What are you reading?(2)

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly book meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey to share what books we have finished last week, are currently reading and planning to read for the rest of the week. 

Finished last week:

 

Check out my review of Spellbound

Reviews to be posted soon

Currently Reading:

                                                         

What we plan to read:

                                                          

Review: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

Spellbound

by Cara Lynn Shultz

Release date: June 28th, 2011

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?

Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to— Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives— visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

Thoughts

Spellbound was definitely a must-read book. The writing style was easy to grasp on; you will indubitably love every chapter. The heroine in the story, Emma, doesn't have an idyllic and picture perfect life as some may envisage. She was abandoned by their father, her brother died of meningitis, and her mother pass away because of cancer. But you’d all think she was cursed because she was even nearly killed by an accident caused by her stepfather. Then, you would deem it’s just common, every person has their own ill-timed phase, but as for Emma everything was just like it was premeditated, like it was being said…and it was.

When she moved in with her Aunt Christine, strange things started to occur. Not just the daily stuff a newbie would feel on her new school, but powerful and outlandish things. Emma finds her new friends, Cisco, Jenna, her cousin Ashley and Angelique--who is out of the ordinary just like the love story of Emma and Brendan. As she finds her friends, villains will always be part on every story and Emma’s rivals was Kirstin, a jealous classmate and Anthony who believes that he is the best and a respected man, on the contrary he is the most hated person in their school.

Everything seems ordinary until she met Brendan Salinger, oh well what can I say? He is definitely an eye-catching, a total HOTTIE and a charismatic DJ. Here comes my favorite

Part, when Emma and Brendan found out that their attraction was not just because they liked each other but they were a reincarnation of an unfeigned, everlasting love and a tragic story. Their affection was put under a spell by a 100 year old curse and Angelique (an amusing witch) helps them to unravel their tragic fate.

This story was not just full of love but also an action-packed story, which really suits on my taste. I love how Emma and Brendan deal with the obstacles, especially the part when they found out about their curse, they became cool, calm and collected and try to see things as a challenge for their true love. I revere how Ms. Cara Lynn Shultz manage to worked on the private life of Emma and Brendan, that they still have there own life in spite of their strong attraction in each other ,in which some of paranormal story today was missing with that significant part. The prose was really beguiling and there are the minor characters who also heats up the story. Spellbound will definitely leave you spellbind on its vigorous story. I can’t wait for its second book to follow! Along with the story of Angelique, I would certainly love if ever Ms. Shultz would worked on a separate story of AngeliqueJ