i swim for oceans

Top Ten Tuesday {1}

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish. They'd love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they will post a new top ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All they 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.

Top Ten Books I'm SO Happy Were Recommended to Me (all those books you probably wouldn't have picked up without a recommendation):

1. Raw Blue - I've never been a fan of contemporary fiction. I don't dance around the issue. So, when a book manages to set me off on a contemporary kick and compare my future reads to it, well, I'd say it's a winner.

2. Vampire Academy - I hate vampires. Truly. I've been told by a gazillion bloggers that I'm missing out though, so I decided to give it a go. I'm highly addicted now, and while I'm only on book five, I legit had to just drive out and buy it because I'm dying to know what happens next!

3. The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Something about the cover always turned me off, but so many good reviews and fabulous recommendations convinced me to give it a go. I'm SO glad I did.

4. The Hunger Games - I don't know why I waited to start the series. I think it was the hype, but I decided that maybe I should see what the hype was really about, and I died with glee. I read each book in less than 15 hours...straight. I'm a geek.

5. Pretty Little Liars - I hate the show, so giving the first book a try was a stretch for me. I was told it was entertaining though, so I decided to see for myself, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not the best writing, but it's certainly entertaining!

6. The Lightning Thief - My good friend Amelia recommended this one to me, and I kept putting it off because it sounded so MG, which is kind of a hit or miss thing with me. Needless to say, it was a hit, ultimately, and I read the entire series in a matter of days. Love me some Percy Jackson.

7. Many Waters - I read this on a recommendation way before I started blogging because I desperately wanted to like Madeleine L'Engle but hated her other titles. A friend told me that the biblical context and love story might be my thing, and it was. I've read this book so many times that I've had to buy multiple covers because the cover keeps falling off.

8. Time Windows - This is one of the first books my grammar school english teacher recommended to me when she realized that I was reading a ton of books. It was above my reading level (technically), but I love it to this day.

9. Harry Potter - I'm obsessed, and I've made that common knowledge. That said, I didn't start book one until book two was already out because I actually made fun of my sister for reading the book. I thought it sounded stupid. She challenged me to try it, and I didn't want to back down, so I read it...BEST. DECISION. EVER.

10. The Art of Racing in the Rain - It's not the type of book I'd review on my blog, but this is one of those books that just stays with me all the time. It's beautiful and so so so sad.

Then I Met My Sister Review

Monday, May 2, 2011

Title: Then I Met My Sister
Author: Christine Hurley Deriso
Publisher: Flux
Published: April 8, 2011
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Source: Publisher

Summer Stetson lives inside a shrine to her dead sister. Eclipsed by Shannon's greatness, Summer feels like she's a constant disappointment to her controlling, Type A momzilla and her all-too-quiet dad. Her best friend Gibson believes Summer's C average has more to do with rebelliousness than smarts, but she knows she can never measure up—academically or otherwise.

On her birthday, Summer receives a secret gift from her aunt: Shannon's diary. Suddenly, the one-dimensional vision of her sister becomes all too solid. Is this love-struck, mom-bashing badass the same Shannon everyone raves about? Determined to understand her troubled sister, Summer dives headfirst down a dark rabbit hole and unearths painful family secrets. Each revelation brings Summer closer to the mysterious and liberating truth about her family—and herself.

Summer lives in Shannon's shadow. She always has, and as far as she's concerned, she always will. She never met her sister, but there is a darkness surrounding her sister's death that's shrouded in an almost ethereal way that everyone views her. Shannon was perfection, and next to her and Summer will always fall short. On her 17th birthday, Summer's aunt gives her Shannon's diary, giving her a unique glimpse into the final year of the sister she never knew, but it holds clues to her family's dark secret and her sister's last days. With the help of her friend, Gibs, Summer must find herself as she finally meets her sister.

Continuing on my contemporary kick, I have been dying to read Then I Met My Sister from the first time I read the premise. I wasn't sure it was the most original premise, per se, but there are a million different ways an author can spin the same basic elements and make an entirely new story. Christine Hurley Deriso presented your average teenager in Summer, allowing you to access all the angst a teenage girl feels, but threw in an element of familial tension and secrets that added a layer of darkness and depth. Haunting, mesmerizing and twisty, Then I Met My Sister takes you on a journey to self-discovery and acceptance in the midst of tragedy.

I have to admit that I wasn't so sure how I felt about Then I Met My Sister a few chapters in. Summer was the epitome of angst. I'm pretty sure every teenage girl has tiffs with her mom, but it almost seemed like Summer sought them out. She felt like the whole world was against her, and she felt like she could never live up to what people expected of her. Then I realized that this is very much how the vast majority of teenagers feel. Gibs provided balance in those few chapters. He was a bit of sanity in the midst of her internal dilemmas. Once Shannon's diary came into play, it was like a lightbulb went on in Summer's head, and she began to see what her family was really like and who her sister was. I wasn't always on the same page with her emotions, but I could definitely feel for her throughout Then I Met My Sister. It wasn't, however, a book filled with riveting action, which made me a little bored at times. It was full of internal reflection.

All in all, Then I Met My Sister is a deep and thought-provoking read, but it's not one packed with action and face-to-face drama, so it wasn't a must-read-the-next-page-now kind of read for me. I give it a 4 out of 5, and I'd recommend it to all fans of YA, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

In My Mailbox 5/1

Sunday, May 1, 2011

In My Mailbox is an amazing weekly meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren that features the books we have received during the week. It's so much fun because we get to see what our fellow bloggers stumbled upon this week and add even more to our piles of books! Without further ado, this week I received the following books: (And YES...I'm really back full-time from Africa!)