Me on This Week's Book Week (118)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Hi all! Summer reared its stupid head again this week. *melts*

I'm off to Edmonton tomorrow (Sunday) and won't be back until some point on Thursday. This means no regular Tuesday review or Waiting on Wednesday post, but the regular Friday review will go up. Because I'll be around to tweet the link. It's far easier to do that on my laptop than on my phone.

So I downloaded some e-books from the library, thinking I'd read those while I was away and take a break. And then I got the e-mails about some e-galleys I'd asked about. Now I feel swamped. I'm definitely going to review the books I've requested, that's for sure. But as for the ones I've received and not requested or ones I've borrowed or bought? Not for the next couple of months.

Does anyone else feel obligated to review the books they receive unsolicited? Every so often I get something I didn't request and go, "I'm only vaguely interested in you, I don't know what to do with you." What do you do? Review them if they sound interesting? Review them no matter what? Ignore them? Maybe I should do some mini reviews.

Reviews for the coming week will feature Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman (Friday). If you liked Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow, then I would really recommend you check out Winterkill. :)

Bought/borrowed/received: (apologies for the fuzziness of the top picture)
Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff (bought) (I want to review this, but with my busy schedule it might be a few weeks.)
Firebug by Lish McBride (from Raincoast Books)
The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason (from Raincoast Books)
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry (from Raincoast Books)
Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake (e-galley from Macmillan through Raincoast Books)
The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block (e-galley from Macmillan through Raincoast Books)
Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini (e-galley from Macmillan through Raincoast Books)
Infinite by Jodi Meadows (e-book borrowed from the library)
Just One Day by Gayle Forman (e-book borrowed from the library)
Just One Year by Gayle Forman (e-book borrowed from the library)

Me on Isla and the Happily Ever After

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Release Date: August 14, 2014
Publisher: Dutton (Penguin imprint)

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Isla and the Happily Ever After is all about the honest ups and downs of falling in love. The smiles and the laughter, the bumps and bruises, the cuts and scars and hugs and kisses. Love is never easy. It never follows the rules we lay out at its feel or the plans we have for the days still to come. It just it. It happens slowly and all at once, catching us by surprise and staring us right in the face for years. It's two people coming together and becoming part of something. It's filled to the brim with happiness and stacked high with insecurities. There will always be laughter with love, and there will always be tears. Good days and bad days and impossible days. Love brings out the best in us and the worst in us, laying us bare in front of the people we care about.

When I started reading this book, I had expectations. I expected Isla and Josh's story, the story of their falling into love and the roadblocks and speed bumps they were bound to encounter. And while yes, that is what I found, it also wasn't. I didn't expect this story, didn't expect the ways in which they tumbled into love, the moments when they laughed and cried together. Love isn't easy. It's hard, it hurts, and it ruins the best of us. But it's worth it. Happily ever afters will always be worth it.

(I purchased a copy of this title.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (191)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Unraveled
Author: Gennifer Albin
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

Autonomous. Independent. Dangerous. They tried to control her. Now she’ll destroy them.

Things have changed behind the walls of the Coventry and new threats lurk in its twisted corridors. When Adelice returns to Arras, she quickly learns that something rotten has taken hold of the world and Cormac Patton needs her to help him reestablish order. However, peace comes at a terrible price. As the Guild manipulates the citizens of Arras, Adelice discovers that she’s not alone, and she must let go of her past to fight for mankind’s future. She will have to choose between an unimaginable alliance and a deadly war that could destroy everyone she loves.

I've really enjoyed this series, it's a different kind of sci-fi/dystopia. And it has a love triangle that works in that Adelice has feelings for both guys. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this book ends. :)

Me on Girl Defective

Title: Girl Defective
Author: Simmone Howell
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster imprint)

This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything. It's a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop in St. Kilda and is trying to find her place in the world. It's about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It's about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It's about the dark underbelly of a curious neighborhood. It's about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music. And it's about life and death and grief and romance. All the good stuff.

Girl Defective is honest, painful, and realistic. This book is an eye-opening experience for a number of characters, not just Sky, and a coming of age for her. Everyone is defective in some way, every acts and reacts differently in certain situations. Everyone is different.

Who is Sky? What is the world? She's trying to figure it all out, like why people do what they do. Like why her mom left, why her dad hides in records and beer, why Nancy lives carefree and parties, why her brother Gully won't take off that rubber pig snout, and why Luke is so distant and closed off. She's also trying to figure out herself at the same time, like what she wants to do and who she is. Why she keeps all of her mom's old clothes and leaves semi-cruel messages on her website.

The setting seems perfect for a rude awakening coming of age story. Sky's home, St. Kilda, sounds like it's caught between the past and the future. Slightly crumbling, old, rough around the edges. It's a little hard, a little harsh, but it's realistic and also unique. The record store was also an interested place, a number of important things happen in it and above it in the apartment. It's like a time capsule, where classic rock lives on.

Growing up sucks. It's hard, it's painful. It's something that, when we come up against it, we don't want to do it. But growing up is all about navigating those hard and painful times and, hopefully, coming out on the other side. Lessons learned and realized. I think that's what this book is for Sky. She's coming face to face with the idea that things aren't perfect, that people aren't always who she thought they were. That you can't keep things from changing.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Simon & Schuster Canada.)

Me on This Week's Book Week (117)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Hi! After all the sun and the rain and the weird humid stuff, the weather was very average this week.

I saw someone tweet about how they had a lot of September ARCs and e-galleys to get through, that there were a lot of September releases. Does anyone else have that? With me it seems to be October, especially October 14th releases. I think it's up to 5 or 6 now. Which means there'll be 2 3 review weeks in October. I should really get reading.

I imagine lots of people will be seeing the If I Stay movie this weekend. I haven't read the books, you guys know me and my occasional relationship with contemporary. It sounds like it's a pretty good adaptation, which is good. I'm all for good book-to-movie adaptations.

Reviews going up next week will feature Girl Defective by Simmone Howell (Tuesday) and Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (bought)
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (e-galley from Algonquin Young Readers) (It's my first 2015 ARC/e-galley! I feel like a time traveler.)
Battling Boy by Paul Pope (borrowed from library)
The Almost Truth by Eileen Cook (borrowed from library)
Year of Mistaken Discoveries by Eileen Cook (borrowed from library)