The Weekly Wrap-Up (33): So many books!

I have a lot of huge life things happening right now. Some aren't so great, like a few health problems and a ton of dental work (root canals and crowns woooo!) -- though the silver lining that deserves much gratitude is that none of it is life-threatening. Life changing, yes--but not life threatening.
And then there are some really great life things happening, but they're all kind of…up in the air right now, and I don't want to jinx any of it. Just trust me that while it is a little stressful and a lot time consuming, I think it's going to improve my life SO, SO much. And I'm so excited.

In case you missed it...

Review: The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark
Review: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae
Review: Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho
Review: Playlist For the Dead by Michelle Falkoff
Top Ten 2014 Releases I Never Got Around to Reading
Top Ten Movies I've Never Seen That Shocks Everyone
Top Ten YA Contemporary Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read

My #OTSPSecretSister is awesome!

Thanks, A -- whoever you are!

Coming up...

Reviews of Boys Don't Knit by TS Easton, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegal, and Severed Heads, Broken Hearts (now titled The Beginning of Everything) by Robyn Schneider. I've been cooking up a few fun discussion posts too, so I hope to post those soon -- and of course, March is my birthday month, so some celebrations have to happen!

Onto the books!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

From Around the World Tours:

Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein

Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

Heat of the Moment by Lauren Barnholdt

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

From NetGalley

Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin

Traded (thanks Cindy!)

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Making Pretty by Corey Ann Haydu

Purchased

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Looking for Alaska 10th Anniversary Version by John Green

Non-Fiction Purchases

because I'm trying to be a grown up

The Girl's Guide To Being A Boss (Without Being A Bitch) by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio

Discover Your Optimal Health by Dr. Wayne Scott Anderson

300 Writing Prompts Mini Book

What books came into your possession recently?

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Top Ten YA Contemporary Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish!

Top Ten YA Contemporary Books
I Can't Believe I Haven't Read Yet

If you know me, you know YA Contemporary is my jam. My cup of tea. My shit. My thang. It is the genre I will always, always love, and the one I am guaranteed to feel like home in.

Which is why these are so surprising! I'm almost ashamed to admit these, really.

 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

All Sarah Ockler books

 

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Take A Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Ask the Passengers by AS King

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

The List by Siobhan Vivian

All Miranda Kenneally books

What books are still shockingly on your TBR?

Leave your TTT link and I'll hop by!

Review: The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark (ARC)

The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark
Swoon Reads (Macmillan), 368 pages
US Release Date: January 6, 2015
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Maddy Spier has been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls. 

Gabe can't imagine skating with anyone but Maddy, and together they have a real chance at winning some serious gold medals. So, he’s determined to keep thinking of her like a sister. After all, he’s never had a romantic relationship that lasted for more than two weeks.

But when their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big breakup that Gabe has always feared?
----------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

I look at Mad, zipping through her brackets. She attacks the twisty turns, the determination fierce on her face. She puts so much power into the pattern that she almost slams into the barrier at the end. That’s the problem. I’ve compartmentalized my life for so long but Mad has no fear of the barrier.

So far I’ve read two of Swoon Reads’ books, and let me tell ya: they are definitely living up to their name! Maddie and Gabe’s story is filled with moments that stole my breathe and made me swoon so hard I actually put my hand over my heart at one point.

I’ll admit that I was shocked this got so…graphic. It’s not lewd or anything, but it’s…they go there. You know. IT. And I was kind of shocked! I don’t mind it, I found it to be quite fitting of the story and done very tastefully. Mostly I’m glad it’s there, because sex in teenagers is a very real thing. And regardless if I agree or disagree with it, I like that this one came with the knowledge that it happens, that it can happen, that some people don’t wait, and that some people do. It’s very real in that sense.

I’ve mentioned on here a few times how obsessed I am with figure skating, but I’ll say it again: I am OBSESSED with figure skating. Seriously. I watch it any chance I get—and not just during the winter Olympics. I used to have a poster of Nancy Kerrigan on my wall when I was younger, and I still have a deep-seeded hatred for Tonya Harding. So I definitely loved the setting and setup to this novel! Figure skating, especially pairs and ice dancing, are incredibly romantic at the core. The fluid movement, the trust in another, how close and emotionally charged everything is…this is all the makings for some serious swoonage.

Maddie annoyed me. Dear God. I wanted to push her so many times and tell her to stop flip-flopping between certain things and just…go for it. She was a bit of a strange mix of strength and indecision…and it’s not that it isn’t realistic, but something about it bugged me. Between the pair of them, Gabriel was my favourite by a long shot. He was a typical guy, and you kind of hated him in the beginning with his revolving spin of girls…but then you come around to him. And that was nice.

As always, I liked the element of family in here and how much it influenced Maddie and Gabe. How it was a reason they were who they were, and how it’s a reason they have so many cracks and fissures, too. I was a little nervous knowing Maddie’s father is a politician and how that would be portrayed (government and politics makes me nervous in novels, for personal reasons), but it actually was handled very little and quite well. Supportive families are wonderful in YA books, and this one was done right: supportive and kind, with lives of their own and problems to take care of. None of it diminished any of the other areas, and that was fantastic.

If a reader wants a fun romance with serious swoonage and heart stopping moments, The Boy Next Door is the perfect read. While I wasn’t entirely into the female MC, everything else was so wonderfully realistic and real that I can overlook her.

4 stars

Top Ten Movies I Haven't Seen That Shocks Everyone

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish!

In honor of a coming week's topic that explores the books I shockingly haven't read, I thought I'd do a non-bookish one for the freebie week!

Top Ten Movies

I Haven't Watched That Shocks Everyone

I don't watch movies too often. And it's not that I don't like to - I actually quite like them, it's just another form of stories in the end - but I never make the time for it. And I'm definitely one of those people that feels like if I'm sitting on the couch watching, I need to have my laptop open to be doing something else at the same time.

Combined with the fact I am an English-speaker who didn't move to an English-speaking country until I was 12, I never had the habit of going to the movies nor did I get into the habit.

So! I haven't seen a lot of movies. Seriously, tell me your favourite movie(s) in the comments, and I bet 80% I've not ever seen. It's startling, really, because I swear I have seen quite a few!

These get the most surprised reaction:

 

Which one shocks you the most?

Are you like me and not seen any of these, either?

Link me to your Top Ten and I'll hop by!

Review: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae (ARC)

Wish You Were Italian (If Only #2) by Kristin Rae
Bloomsbury, 323 pages
US Release Date: May 6, 2014
Format/Source: ARC via Around the World Tours - thank you!

Pippa has always wanted to go to Italy … but not by herself. And certainly not to sit in art school the entire summer learning about dead guys’ paintings. When she steps off the plane in Rome, she realizes that traveling solo gives her the freedom to do whatever she wants. So it’s arrivederci, boring art program and ciao, hot Italian guys!

Charming, daring, and romantic, Bruno is just the Italian Pippa’s looking for—except she keeps running into cute American archeology student Darren everywhere she goes. Pippa may be determined to fall in love with an Italian guy … but the electricity she feels with Darren says her heart might have other plans. Can Pippa figure out her feelings before her parents discover she left the program and—even worse—she loses her chance at love?
-----------------Goodreads Summary

If you suffer from wanderlust like I do, Wish You Were Italian is probably a bad book for you – it describes Italy and so many various cities around that beautiful country that it just made my soul ache to go visit immediately! Kristin Rae did a wonderful job making me feel like I was really walking around Cinque Terre, or staring at the Ruins of Pompeii, that I was right there with Pippa and Darren at the Coliseum. Her descriptions are accurate and amazing.

This book is pretty much the epitome of a YA Romance – it’s got everything you’d look for. Hot foreign guys, awesome best friends, parental angst, shenanigans and mischief, lessons and mess-ups and love. There’s sort of a triangle situation (though it was never a question who she should—and would—go for), but it’s not over the top or ridiculous. It makes sense, in the context.

I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of Pippa’s journal! I thought it was really fun of her friend to create that for her, and I loved how it actually kind of outlines and brought together all the events. It wasn’t major or minor—just a part of it, and that was pretty fantastic.

There aren’t many negatives I can give, aside from the predictability of the book. But it’s one of those that it’s sort of nice that it all plays out in a way you would expect and hope for. I do really love Darren too, even though he’s a little too perfect boy, perfect friend. But I totally fell for it, so who am I to complain?! He was sweet and funny and tender and I would not have protested having him show up when I hurt my ankle and give me piggy back rides!

Wish You Were Italian was a sweet, fun Italian adventure. We get to see Pippa really grow and come into her own person, and it’s a lovely journey. If anything, you should read this book just to be transported to Italy! I just won’t be held responsible if you suddenly have the undeniable need to purchase a plane ticket.

3.5 stars

Top Ten Releases from 2014 I Never Got Around to Reading

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant to Read
but didn't get around to.

I know All the Bright Things was a 2015 release, but I received it in 2014 so I counted it!

(Funko Raj & Wolowitz say hi!)
Poisoned Apples: Poems For You, My Pretty by Christine Hepperman
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Zac & Mia by AJ Betts
We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

They're all high on my TBR, so hopefully they'll be read soon! If you've read any, which should I read next?

What books got pushed to 2015 for you?

Leave your link and I'll hop by!