Follow Friday (09)

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View.  It is an awesome opportunity to network other book blogs.  Here's a blurb about it from her site!

Hi, welcome to Follow Friday! Let me tell you what is going on today.

• First PJV will be featuring one blogger from this great community each Friday along with having the Follow My Book Blog feature. 

• Each week one blogger will be selected as a feature, so sign up for the Follow Feature. Future features are picked randomly.

This week's question is:

GENRE WARS!!! What's your favorite genre, and what book in that genre made it your favorite?


Oh this is a hard question!!  But even while I LOVE supernatural YA, my first love was contemporary YA.  I just love reading about characters who could have been my best friends in high school.  And the man who really made it my favorite was John Green with his book Looking for Alaska.  Such a good book!

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. 

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Wondrous Strange, Darklight and Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston

Wondrous Strange

Darklight

Tempestuous 

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It is interesting to see the progression in trailers when it is for a series of books.  I love all three of the Wondrous Strange series trailers, and I've just started reading Wondrous Strange.  It is really good so far!

Let me know what you think of mixing up Trailer Thursdays?

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RAK: The Best Idea Ever!!

Random Acts of Kindness is an awesome way to bless others by sending them something from the book wish list. It was started (and is hosted) by Book Soulmates.

RAK Rules: It’s pretty easy to participate. Sign-ups are monthly, and the rules are below. (June’s post is HERE.)

• Sign up each month you’d like to participate in.
• Show off your participation! Grab one of the buttons available
• Create a wish list and post it in the Google Doc located in each R.A.K post for the month.
  {Post on your blog, Amazon, where ever as long as there’s a link to it.}
• If you choose to do a R.A.K for someone, check out their wish list and contact that blogger for their address.
• At the end of the month, SHOW US YOUR R.A.K!
  Make a post saying ‘Thank You’ to whoever granted one of your wishes and share it with us

My RAK List: Amazon (I only have it on Amazon since it's the easiest to create, but I'll take books from anywhere)

Please check it out guys, and let me know if any of you have a RAK List, so I can send some love out!

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Waiting on Wednesday (13)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we seriously can’t wait for.

 Here's my pick for the week, that I seriously can't wait for:

Fade by Kailin Gow

What if you never existed?   FADE…

A YA Thriller.

Okay, so that description leaves a lot to be desired, buuuuuut it is intriguing!  I honestly fell in love love love with the cover.  I've heard lots of good things about Kailin Gow's novels, especially Desired, so I sure Fade will be good as well!

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NOOK Bargains!

I have a nook color, which I love!  But whenever I see e-books on sale, they're always for the Kindle.

BOOOOO!!!

So I thought I might start my own round-up of sales on e-books that are for the nook to help my fellow nookers (yes I've just made that word up).

Here's some good YA books on sale at Barnes and Noble right now!

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells - $1.99










The Earth, My Butt and Other Big round Things by Carolyn Mackler - $1.99










Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci - $1.99

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald - $1.99

Evermore by Alyson Noel - $2.99

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black - $2.99










I hope you all find this helpful!  Let me know yes or no in the comments.
And if you have a nook I want to be friends!

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Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature (Review)

Title: Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature

Edition: Hardcover, 265 pages

Author(s): Robin Brande

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: August 28, 2007

Source: Borrowed from the Library

Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

The Summary

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Your best friend hates you. The guy you liked hates you. Your entire group of friends hates you.

All because you did the right thing.

Welcome to life for Mena, whose year is starting off in the worst way possible. She's been kicked out of her church group and no one will talk to her—not even her own parents. No one except for Casey, her supersmart lab partner in science class, who's pretty funny for the most brilliant guy on earth.

And when Ms. Shepherd begins the unit on evolution, school becomes more dramatic than Mena could ever imagine . . . and her own life is about to evolve in some amazing and unexpected ways.

(Goodreads)

My Opinion

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Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature was a great book.  The whole premise is one which I personally haven't read in a young adult book before.  And I like how Brande focused on the aftermath of Mena's actions, and another serious issues within the Christian faith, that of evolution, rather than the initial issue (which I don't want to spoil).

Mena's characterization was strong.  I felt she was portrayed honestly, and realistically.  Mena is in a tough situation, and the reader is able to sympathize with her with the situation becoming ludicrous, or her growth throughout the novel becoming tedious.  In addition, Casey was a fantastic supporting character.  He was funny, and cut right through the bullshit that Mena often got caught in due to the circumstance of the events going on.  Casey was probably my favorite character, in that he is himself.  He loves science; he is a huge nerd for it, and is never ashamed of wanting to be the best.  He even has a plan to get Mena and himself on Ms. Shepard illustrious science website, which is read by science buffs across the country.  I love him, and he acts a beacon for Mena to focus on in the mire of her personal life.

I did have a problem with the plot, however.  While I understand that the focus isn't on what happened previously, but how Mena evolves within her faith now faced with the result of her action, I would still have liked more explanation on the exact situation and the thought process behind her decision.  I also feel like the parents are simply background, disapproving entities.  They were particularly frustrating because their thoughts were never fully laid out in regards to the problems and these big theological questions.  These two issues were problems I had to push past to really enjoy the book, and I wish that hadn't been the case.

Overall, I feel Brande did an excellent job writing a novel which explores some interesting questions regarding teens, faith, and science.  Also, this book is such a great book for teaching teens about respect and defending others.  Just really well-done, and you should go grab a copy of Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature!

Final Rating

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Book Cover: 5/5

Book Title: 5/5

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 9/10

Writing: 9/10

Ending: 9/10

Overall: 45/50: A

Book Trailer

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Poetry Sunday (09)

This is a fabulous blog feature here at Eli to the nth!  Thanks to Genna from Reading, Writing, and the World of Words, who created this awesome feature and gave me the permission to host it here, as well as, use her cute graphic!  Poetry is one of my passions, but I have yet to share it here.  So this feature gives me the perfect opportunity to do so!

This week I'm sharing with you a poem by one of my favorite poets, Billy Collins.  He was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 - 2003, and in my opinion is both fantastical as well as grounded.  If you don't like poetry, I believe you should pick up some of his collections to try out because he is so relatable in his rhetoric.

The video below is an animation of one of my favorite poems, from Collins' book Questions About Angels: Selected Poems. It is titled "Forgetfullness".

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The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

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Let me know what you think!

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In My Mailbox (16)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by one of her friends, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie where we get to post about the books we receive each week through publishers/authors, our own purchases, contests won, and libraries.

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Teaser Tuesday (13)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following!

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share a few teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• MAKE SURE NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (you don't want to give too much away and ruin the book for other readers)
• Share the title and author too, so that other readers can add your book to their TBR list if they like your teaser!

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A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

     "At Winterfell they had called her "Arya Horseface" and she thought nothing could be worse, but that was before the orphan boy Lommy Greenhands had named her "Lumpyhead"." 

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SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD!

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In My Mailbox (15)

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by one of her friends, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie where we get to post about the books we receive each week through publishers/authors, our own purchases, contests won, and libraries.

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