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November 30, 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (3) - Contemporary heaven!

The One That I Want
The One That I Want by Jennifer Echols
Publication date: February 7th, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Find on: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository
Gemma can’t believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma’s heartbroken. 

Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max’s friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can’t help thinking that Max likes her back—it’s just too bad he’s already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend’s boyfriend?


You will have this on your wishlist if you've ever read a book by Jennifer Echols. She is a FANTASTIC contemporary YA author. We loved every single one of her books, but especially her simon pulse books! The cover is adorable and the synopsis makes us giddy with excitment!! 
What are you waiting on this wednesday? 


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we are excited about. 


November 29, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Book On Our TBR For Winter





Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #6)Deadly Cool (Deadly Cool, #1)Touch of Power (Healer, #1)
1) Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney: We both adore this series tremendously, because of its humor, so its such a fun read!  
2) Touch of Power by Maria V. Synder: We got this book from NetGalley for review, and we weren't able to read it yet, so hopefully one of us will read it soon. 
3) Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday: This book has been lying on our shelf for a while now, and we heard many good reviews about it, so we are excited about reading this book. 
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1)New GirlThis Girl Is Different
4) New Girl by Paige Harbison:  As you mostly know from our last IMM, we also got this book for review and it really sounds interesting so we are looking forward to reading it as well.  
5) The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: We won this book recently, and we have been dying to read it ages ago, and now that we have it, you guess the rest ;)
6) This Girl is Different by J. J. Johnson: We haven't heard anything about this book, but the synopsis of it sounds amusing, So much that we couldn't not request it from NetGalley. 
 The Iron King (Iron Fey, #1)Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1)Divergent (Divergent, #1)Good For You (Between the Lines #3)
7) Good For You by Tammara Webber: Juhina has read the first two books, and is in love with them. The third book came out so its def in her top TBR list! 
8) Shatter Me by Tahera Mafi: We know we know, you read it and you loved it, and you ask us why we didnt read it yet, we DONT know! But we willlllll  
9) Divergent by Veronica Roth: This book is also in our shelf, just covered with dust. So we want to pick that up soon.  
10) The Iron King by Julie Kagawa: Disappointingly, neither of us have read the Iron Fey series, but that doesnt mean we can never start ;) 
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Thats hopefully what we will be reading this winter. Even though both of us know its impossible to finish reading everything with exams going on and all, but we'll try our best!
Leave a comment below and tell if you read any of these books, and if so, how much did you enjoy them?
Happy Reading <3 






November 28, 2011

Review: Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick - Juhina

Silence (Hush, Hush, #3)
Title: Silence (Hush Hush #3)
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Publication date: October 4th, 2011
Genre(s): Young Adult (Paranormal - Angels)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: ebook
Pages: 438

The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past... bridged two irreconcilable worlds... faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust... and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

I believed that this book would have been the perfect ending for this amazing trilogy, but Becca Fitzpatrick knows how to hook her readers. I didn't think there are anymore conflicts or issues to resolve, but boy was I wrong! This book was a thrilling page turner and I wasn't able to put it down! 
The book was very fast paced. Nora lost her memory, which is like losing a part of herself, she struggled to figure out what happened the last five months, but she never lost her true self. She was the same stubborn, smart, and adventurous girl I have rooted for in the last two books. The memory loss also didn't drag through the book, hence the fast pace. 
I wished there was more interactions between the best friends (Nora and Vee) especially since Vee had a major part in book two. I would really love to see how her story goes after what happened to her in Crescendo. 
If I think about it nothing much actually happened in this book, other than the shocking moments and decisions towards the end, but I would  even read about a normal day of Nora or Patch with Becca's writing. Her writing is gripping and oh so awesome! If you're a fan of paranormal romances with a twist of adventure, then this series is for you!  


5 stars - It's like music to my ears! put it on replay

November 27, 2011

In My Mailbox (7) - Digital Edition


In My Mailbox (IMM) is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. In this post you just show all the books you have either bought, borrowed, won, or was gifted for this week. 




Books Mentioned

Unlocked by Ryan G. Van Cleave
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (thanks to Inga at Me and Reading)
New Girl by Paige Harbison
Mesmerize by Artist Arthur
Addison Blakely: Confession of a PK by Betsy St. Amant
Dark Seeker by Taryn Browning
The Door at the Top of the Stairs by Alison Naomi Holt
Ugly to Start With by John Michael Cummings 
A Dark Beautiful by Jocelyn Davies (thanks to Janina Carter)
Coexist by Julia Crane
Embrace by Cherie Colyer 
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire (thanks to Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile)



The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1)Addison Blakely: Confessions of a PKBeautiful DisasterNew Girl
A Beautiful Dark (A Beautiful Dark, #1)EmbraceDark Seeker (Seeker, #1)Coexist (Keegan's Chronicles #1)
  UnlockedUgly to Start WithMesmerize (Mystyx, #4)The Door at the Top of the Stairs

Happy reading!

November 26, 2011

A new year, with new challenges

Hey guys! so Farah and I were scoping all the challanges that will start in 2012 and we loved many of them but due to the demands of life outside the book blogging world, we decided to participate in three (3) challenges!

1) The first challenge is the 2012 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristy at The Story Siren



The Challenge objective is to read and review a minimum of twelve YA/MG debut novels between the dates January 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013 (the extension is for reviewing books that came out in December 2012)
Since Farah and I both share the blog, we will up the books to a total of 24 books. Here are some books we will definitely be reading & reviewing:
So far those are the books that are in our radar. Of course we might read them all, or some of them. But our overall goal is 24 books!
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2) The second challenge is the 2012 TBR Challenge. This challenge is hosted by by ten lovely bloggers. The challenge duration will be from January 1st 2012, till December 31st, 2012. 

Guildlines: Any books that have been sitting on your shelf for some time can be used for this challenge. However only books that were published in 2011 or earlier. There are multiple levels for this challenge. Farah & I both decided on the second level which is:

11-20 books - A Friendly Hug 
So that should be a total of 20 - 40 books on this blog!

Here are some books that we will consider in the 2012 TBR challenge

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3) The third and last challenge we are participating in is the Stand Alone Reading Challenge. This challenge is hosted by Hafsah at IceyBooks and Britta at I Like These Books.
Not Afraid 4

Haven't you ever picked a book and started reading it, then when you finished it you felt like there was no actual ending and it turns out to be part of a series? then you end up waiting for MONTHS for the following book? 
Well have no fear, this challenge is all about the stand alone novels released in 2012. I am pretty excited for this since we lack stand alone YA novels these days.
Here are some of the books entered for the challenge:
Isla and the Happily Ever After (No Cover)
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So this is it! these are all the challenges we are participating in so far! if you guys have other awesome challenges, do link below! we would definitely check it out!! 

100 FOLLOWER + JUHINA'S BDAY GIVEAWAY

Thanks to all our followers, we reached 100! We decided to host a giveaway to show our love to you guys  and because Juhina's birthday is on the 29th! To celebrate, we are going to give you guys a chance to win one of these AWESOME Young Adult books listed below:

How to enter: JUST FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW!




Maji Bookshelf



Sorry guys that we are choosing winners so late, but I (juhina) am jam packed till mid January with uni. 

November 25, 2011

Review: There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones - Juhina

There You'll Find Me
Title: There You'll Find Me
Author: Jenny B. Jones
Publication date: October 4th, 2011
Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: NetGalley
Pages: 320

When Finley travels to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, she hopes to create a new identity and get some answers from the God who took her brother away and seems to have left her high and dry. But from the moment she boards the plane and sits by Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to Finley's plan.

When she gets too close to Beckett, a classmate goes on a mission to make sure Finley packs her bags, departs Ireland-and leaves Beckett alone. Finley feels the pressure all around. As things start to fall apart, she begins to rely on a not-so-healthy method of taking control of her life.

Finley tries to balance it all-disasters on the set of Beckett's new movie, the demands of school, and her growing romance with one actor who is not what he seems. Yet Finley is also not who she portrays to Beckett and her friends. For the first time in her life, Finley must get honest with herself to get right with God.

There you'll find me is centered around Finley (love the name!), who moves for a semester to Ireland to follow her brother's footsteps so she can experience the love he felt for this place, and to get closer to god. You see, Finley's brother was murdered in a bombing in Afghanistan two years ago. Finley has basically lost all meaning in life, because she doesn't understand WHY it had to be her brother. I am pretty sure anyone who has ever lost a loved one had these kind of thoughts. So she heads off to Ireland to get answers? closure? a sense of direction? the presence of God? but ends up finding so much more. 
Then she meets Beckett. Beckett is basically the Justin Bieber, no, the Tayler Lautner (much better) of our time. He is charming, witty, and basically the Hollywood starlet everyone goes gaga over, except for Finley. Of course no one is perfect and has a perfect life. I love how 3 dimensional the characters are, each one has their own conflicts, struggles, and wounds that need healing. This isn't your normal light contemporary novel. The comfort, and sometimes snarky arguments, these two have when they're together is what made this book for me. It brought humor into the book and light into each other's lives. This book deals with deep and some what taboo themes without turning the story into a dark and depressing novel. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves contemporary books but wants more than fluff out of the reading experience. 

Rating: 4 - A love song with a twist of awesome 

November 23, 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (2)


Slide


Slide by Jill Hathaway
Publication date: March 21st, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth- her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered. 

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body. 


Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again. 

This book sounds FANTASTIC!! We have always loved a good old mystery novel, but this one, WOW, the idea behind it is just amazing. We honestly can't wait for the release. This might be Juhina's most anticipated 2012 debut novel. Also isn't the cover just so pretty!?


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we are excited about. 


November 22, 2011

Guest Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins




Our guest today is Rawan Alqadi. She is a tenth grader and goes to school with Farah. Farah recommended The Hunger Games to Rawan, and Rawan just fell in love with the book. Rawan is from Palestine, and is 14 years old. She is currently reading the second book of "The Hunger Games" and will soon post another review about it. We want to thank her very much for her volunteer work and for her time to write us lovely reviews about the books she currently read and enjoyed. Thanks a lot Rawan! 


Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publication date: December, 14th, 2009
Genre(s): Young Adult (Dystopian)
Publisher: Scolastic, Inc
Source: eBook
Pages: 374


In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.



The first book of three, "The Hunger Games' was absolutely astonishing. The author, Suzanne Collins uses her vivid imagination to reveal events about the distant, yet dark future. In this novel, Katniss Everdeen is thrown into an arena with 23 others, to fight for her life. Torn between her feelings, and the feelings of the character she must pursue in order to survive, lead her to become a rebel, fighting the 'game makers'.

From the moment i read the first word of the book, i was reeled in by the story of a girl, sixteen, who is torn between two boys- Gale, her best friend who might have feelings for her and Peeta- her partner in the arena who has made it clear that he is in love with her.

Katniss lives in a world where freedom is no longer accepted, countries are no longer existent, people starve to their deaths and the only form of entertainment is watching 24 children between the age of 12-18 fight to their deaths, yearly. Being born into District Twelve, where people earn money by mining, Katniss' father is blown to bits in a mining accident, leaving her to tend to her family of one sister and her sick mother. She is a straightforward, kind and clever girl who becomes a so called 'love crazed girl' in order to stay alive. The yearly reapings, which choose one girl and one boy from each district for 'The Hunger Games' turn the odds against her when he sister is chosen as a tribute. Determined to protect her sister, she volunteers to take her place.

The suspense in the book makes you want to continue reading the choices of Katniss Everdeen in the games, which provokes a seemingly act of rebellion that puts the life of her loved ones in danger, as well as the future of her district. Suzanne Collins also ends the book in suspense when we don't know what the consequences of her actions were- leading us to the second book called- Catching Fire.

I recommend this book to everyone of all ages, no matter their favorite reading genre. Every time I read a book I say that it has become my favorite, yet this time, I truly mean that this is my personal favorite. "The Hunger Games" has made me look at everything in a different way, and has taught me to never take anything for granted.
 


A tune that reaches the Top, cant get better