Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon 2013 Wrap-Up

Hey, lovelies! I hope you all had a great weekend. It's so very sunny outside and unfortunately I got a sunburn. Meh.. It's not all that bad though, I've had worse. I guess that's what I get for laying out in the sun all day even if I use sun cream. The wheather has been superb though--not a cloud in a sky and it totally goes with the theme of this read-a-thon. I had so much fun and I'm looking forward to participating in even more read-a-thons since the first one was a success on my part. I didn't end up reading that much from the list I created for myself, but I read quite a bit nevertheless. You want to know what I read? I'll give you the complete list of day by day and a few thoughts on the books I read.

Day 1: Started Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter. Read to page 117.
Day 2: Started Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown--15% in. Continuing Born at Midnight.
Day 3: Read to 20% of Thousand Words and read to page 220 on Bron at Midnight.
Day 4: Read to around page 300 of Born at Mifnight
Day 5: Read to 50% of Thousand Words
Day 6: Finished Thousand Words. Read two additional novels: Wrong Kind of Love by Amanda Heath and Elite by Rachel Van Dyken.
Day 7: Finished Born at Midnight and started (and will hopefully finish) Breach by K.I. Lynn.

So I ended up reading..

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
I ended up liking it a lot. The MC was pretty well-written and even though her constant kissing thoughts regarding the two guys who drooled over her bothered me a bit, I still think Kylie was a decent character. I liked the friendships and the few twists and turns that took me by surprise. I also enjoyed the world-building which was quite different from the usual supernatural world I have come across so far. I think this one will get a decent four stars.

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown
Another great story for me. It was my first ever Jennifer Brown's book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had no idea sexting would be that big of an issue and Ashleigh's story touched me in a way I didn't expect. I will definitely read more by Ms. Brown. As I gathered from that little interview with her at the end of the book, she writes issue books that are different and really make you think and these kinda books suit me well. Also, her writing is good so yes, definitely an author I'll explore more when I have time.

Wrong Kind of Love by Amanda Heath
Ok, so I read the first book and skimmed parts of it, that's why I haven't marked it as read on Goodreads. I did like the best friend of the MC and the MC's twin brothers though so I knew I wanted to read their book someday. I was rooting for Caden all the way and of course since it's from his and Grace's POV we know that they'll end up together, there's no other option. However, I was so annoyed by Grace that I wanted to sucker punch her at times. She was almost as annoying as Ms. Anastasia Steele. Ugh.. I liked the main idea and Caden was ok, but overall it was meh for me.

Elite by Rachel Van Dyken
This read-a-thon is all about firsts for me as I see. I didn't plan on reading it, but I ended up doing so since I was intrigued. I heard it was about a secret society among our ordinary one and I knew it was a book I wanted to pick up. Ok, so the beginning was a bit awkward. It got better, but again, the MC just ruined it for me. Every time someone said something that wasn't like.. didn't make sense immediately, she asked them if they were high. Wtf? So when I'm in a mood to be silly and say silly things and laugh about them I'm immediately tripping and so is everybody else? I think she was just too dumb. Sorry. The secret society thing was different though and it ended up being a first of that kind (I don't want to give away the society's um.. essence.) so I want to know more and I'll pick up the sequel even if the main character is a tad annoying.

and I'm currently reading Breach by K.I. Lynn as we speak. It's pretty good, but very very VERY steamy. Kinda reminds me of The Crossfire series by Sylvia Day. I know both of the MCs have secrets and I want to know what they are. I can tell that it's not just all adult fiction with the very graphic steamy scenes, but there's a story beneath all that. I hope it'll come out soon though since I don't think I can handle all that steaminess anymore. I need a real story not just an erotic story, you know..

AAAANNDDD that's it for me this week. I'll go and try to finish Breach now and I hope you guys had indeed a great weekend and please stop by to see my review for one of the most intriguing books I have ever read. It'll be up tomorrow and on Tuesday I'll have a giveaway for US/Can peeps so a lot of stuff to look forward to next week:)

Summer Lovin' Read-A-Thon 2013: Spine Poem

I'm not that far in my current reads Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown and Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter so I haven't actually shed any tears. However, I received a paperback copy of one of my favorite books that has touched me deeply and that is The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay. Honestly, I opened it from the scene of the party where Drew dragged her at the end of the book and just read diagonally until the end of the part where Josh goes to Nastya after that party. I didn't even have to read the whole book in order to get the tears flowing. It's not just a New Adult book, it's a beautiful piece of art that has touched me in ways I didn't expect. I loved every single thing about that book and I am beyond glad that there is such a wonderful person as Katja who has written this wonderful story for us to read. If you haven't read it yet, you most certainly must! Oh, and I'll give you a quote from that part of the book :)

We both stand there, looking at each other across the kitchen, with all the things we've done to hurt each other littering the path between us.

I guess why this book made me so emotional was that it was raw, intense and even though I'm not into books with a slow plot, it was so character driven and beautifully written that I couldn't help myself. The thing is that characters are what make a book and they were all perfect in this gorgeous, haunting, broken story.

Alsooooo, our challenge for today is to create a spine poem and that's something I've always wanted to do, but I'm not good with poems and I didn't purchase a lot of books before last Fall so I don't have that many to choose from and I have loaned a lot of them to my friends so yeah.. Just bear in mind that I'm no poem-master. Heh, so here goes nothing ;-)

Dearly, Departed Cinder,

Crash Through the Ever Night.

Clash The Collector.

Arise, Guardian of the Gate.

It's preeeettty dark, haha. And intense. Clash the Collector? Hmhh.. I don't know who would win, Dante or Cinder? I think Dante has more experience. And is Cinder the Guardian of the Gate? I guess so. Whatever, it doesn't have to make sense lol. It was fun though :) I hope all of you lovelies in the US are having a great 4th of July and the rest of you pumpkins out there are having a great day as well. *hugs*

Summer Lovin' 2013 Read-A-Thon: You're The One That I Want

It's day 2 and so far I've started Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter which is surprisingly awesome. Totally my kinda humour and I've laughed quite a bit even though I'm not that far. Also, there have been quite a few surprises already regarding the plot so that's awesome. Since I have it in paperback, I read it at home and I have the first two book in a combined edition and I don't want to bring it to work so I brought my Kindle instead and during lunch break I started Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown which is also pretty interesting. I have heard so many good things about Jennifer's work and I'm excited to finally give one of her books a try. I'm only 15% in though, so we'll see how it goes.

So for today's participation post we have a topic of our 5 must-reads for summer. Oh boy, I have so many books I'd love to name, but here're the first five that come to mind. Summer is mostly for contemporaries. In my opinion. Different kind of beach reads etc. Without further ado, here are my four contemporaries for summer:

Want to read

Facade by Nyrae Dawn -- want to read

Faking It by Cora Carmack -- want to read

Have read, recommend

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick -- read and loved it (my review here)

Slammed by Colleen Hoover -- just click on my review from yesterday ;-) (my review here)

Fantasy

And what's summer without a little fantasy? This is a recommendation for every fantasy fan out there. Oh, and people who enjoy originality

Of Silver and Beasts by Trisha Wolfe -- read and loved every perfect moment from this book, one of my favorite reads of 2013 (my review here)

So what are your must reads this summer? I hope you're all having a great week!