Waiting on Wednesday: P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?

While Lily is spacing out in Chemistry one day, she picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from one of her favorite songs on the desk. The next day, someone else has written back to her on the desk! Soon enough Lily and the mystery student are exchanging notes, and lyrics, and even sharing secrets. When Lily finds out that her anonymous pen pal is a guy, she's flustered -- and kind of feels like she's falling for him. She and her best friend set out to unravel the identity of the letter writer -- but when the truth is revealed, the guy is the LAST person Lily could have ever imagined it to be. Now that Lily knows the truth, can she untangle her feelings and gather the courage to listen to her heart?

From beloved author Kasie West (The Distance Between Us) comes an utterly charming story about mixed messages, missed connections, and the magic of good old-fashioned secret admirer notes.

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Release Date: July 26, 2016

This looks super cute.

Review: Because You'll Never Meet Me

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children Books
Publication date: July 2, 2015
Rating: 4 stars

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, this debut is powerful, dark and humorous in equal measure. These extraordinary voices bring readers into the hearts and minds of two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.(Goodreads)

I really liked this book. It took me a while to get into the book because from the start I was not feeling Moritz, he was cranky and drove me nuts. As the boys began to tell each other their stories it was a fascinating shift. At the beginning of the book Ollie read like he had a serious case of ADD, he was all over the place in a sometimes laugh out loud kind of way. We get the impression that he's like that because he so isolated and happy to finally have someone to talk to, but as his story unfolds, we learn there's a little more to it than that.

Moritz, on the other hand reminds me of a crotchety old grandpa. However the longer he talks to Ollie, and the more encouragement that Ollie gives him, although he still remains kind of crotchety, he branches out, makes friends, and even slowly steps into a relationship. (Snaps for that by the way).

The only problem that I really had with the book was show long they drew out the mystery of what happened between Ollie and Liz. Every time it was brought up and Ollie said some version of "I'll hold that story off for another day" I was super annoyed. I felt like the author wanted to keep us hooked to the story in a pandering kind of way. Also, I didn't like Liz. I understood, but didn't understand her all at the same time. I just didn't like her.

So, that being said, this is a great book, and appropriate for all age groups. Hats off!

Waiting on Wednesday: Otherworld Secrets by Kelley Armstrong

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

More than a decade after Kelley Armstrong first opened the doors to the Otherworld, fans are still clamoring for more. In response to their demands—and to coincide with the Syfy Network show based on the series—Plume has signed up three Otherworld anthologies, each of which revolves around a different theme. The second in the trilogy, Otherworld Secrets, features fan-favorites such as Cassandra, Savannah, and Adam in rare and neverbefore- published short stories—plus a brand new novella. Fans old and new will flock to this mystery-themed volume to discover the deepest secrets of this captivating world.



Anthology Contents
1) Life After Theft – new Hope/Karl novella2) Forbidden – Subterranean Press 2012 Elena/Clay novella3) Angelic – Subterranean Press 2009 Eve/Kristof novella4) Zen and the Art of Vampirism – Zoe novella from Subterranean Press’s long-sold out “A Fantasy Medley”5) The Ungrateful Dead – Jaime short story from “Blood Lite” anthology6) Counterfeit Magic – Subterranean Press 2010 Paige/Lucas novella 

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Release Date: January 26, 2016

I love this series so much it might be a bit of a problem.

Review: Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

Publisher: HarperCollins
Date published: August 28, 2012
Rating: 3 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.(Goodreads)
 
I chose this book when I was desperate for an audio book to listen to at work and I wasn't super picky about what it was. This book is very fast pace and action packed. There are chase scenes, I think gun fire, conspiracies, people breaking down doors, and other randomness. I'd say this book was very entertaining and great for reluctant readers. I started listening to the second one but other things took priority. It's a fun book but not very deep. There wasn't much character development and, it's not that I didn't like Noa, I just also didn't care to much what was going on with her, aside from not wanting the main character to die. That's about it. This book was a solid three stars.

Review: Shackled by Tom Leveen

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: August 18, 2015
Rating: 3 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Pelly has a master plan. After years of therapy, medication, and even a stint in a mental hospital, she’s finally ready to re-enter the world of the living. Pelly has been suffering from severe panic attacks ever since her best friend, Tara, disappeared from a mall six years ago.

And her plan seems to be working, until an unkempt girl accompanied by an older man walks into the coffee shop where she works. Pelly thinks she’s seen a ghost, until the girl mouths “help me” on the way out, and Pelly knows she’s just seen Tara.

Too shocked to do anything, Pelly helplessly watches Tara slip away again as she steels herself against a renewed spiral of crippling anxiety. But rather than being overcome by anxiety, Pelly feels more energized than she has in years. Determined to track down enough evidence to force the police to reopen Tara’s file, Pelly’s master plan takes a turn for the dangerous.

Pelly decides she cannot be shackled by her past—and the anxiety, fear, and grief that comes with it—any longer if she wants to save Tara. But in seeking answers through whatever means necessary, she’ll come face-to-face with true evil. And not all the shackles are in her head... (Goodreads)

I liked what this book was trying to do. I really did. Pelly had some issues after she witnessed her best friends kidnapping... well sort of. Then she thinks she sees her kidnapped friend and spends the entire book trying to find her. Great, good, got it. Sadly the book fell a bit short. I understand that Pelly was upset about what happened to her friend, but I feel like something was missing. The girl smokes, she doesn't go to a real school, she wont leave the house at night, and all of this because her friends disappeared 10 years before. It's serious but, the book didn't do a good enough job of making me care all that much. Not to mention Pelly was freaking ridiculous. I didn't like her at all. She ropes her coworker into helping her look for Tara. He obviously likes her, but why. I have no freaking clue. Pelly is straight up rude, granted she also realizes that she's rude, but that's not the point. 

I can't say much about the book except it's a great read for a reluctant reader, although, an older kid because of a thing that happens. It's a short book that moves quickly but it's not that great.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Last Star by Rick Yancey

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

We’re here, then we’re gone, and that was true before they came. That’s always been true. The Others didn’t invent death; they just perfected it. Gave death a face to put back in our face, because they knew that was the only way to crush us. It won’t end on any continent or ocean, no mountain or plain, jungle or desert. It will end where it began, where it had been from the beginning, on the battlefield of the last beating human heart.

Master storyteller Rick Yancey invokes triumph, loss, and unrelenting action as the fate of the planet is decided in the conclusion to this epic series. 

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Release Date: May 24, 2016

Although I thought the second book was just so, so. I can't wait for the last book!