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January 27, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | Books to Read with Your Book Club


This is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing girls over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is top books to read with your book club.

I am not actually in a formal book club. I do participate in Groups on Goodreads, but that is all of the book club experience that I have. So, I am going to put my own twist on today's topic. I am going to list the books that I think lead to the best discussions. Because, this is really what book clubs do, right?


January 26, 2015

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Kill Me Softly (Beau Rivage, #1)
Picture Courtesy of Goodreads
Kill Me Softly

Author: Sarah Cross
Series: Beau Rivage #1
Release Date: April 10, 2012
Pages: 336
Review by: Tessa

Mirabelle's 16th birthday is coming up, but she still has no idea how to live.

Her guardians have forbidden almost everything in her life, so she is not really living at all.

Everything from going out with friends and having a boyfriend to simple things like shaving her legs and watching television are forbidden to Mirabelle. And there is one thing that she wants to do, but it is also number one on her guardian's DO NOT DO list--visit her hometown.

Mirabelle wants her sweet sixteen to be about discovering herself, and there is no better place to find it then where her life started.

Mirabelle was born in Beau Rivage and she intends to go back with or without permission

Until she discovers that her homecoming is more magical than she thought and now she has to pay the consequences.


January 24, 2015

Soundtrack Saturday | Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

This meme, hosted by Erin @ The Hardcover Lover, is the perfect mix of music and books. 

Anyone can participate and the rules are simple. 

All that you have to do is create a soundtrack (or a mini-sound track) for a book. 

A full soundtrack has about 10-12 songs, but you could use more. 

A mini-soundtrack includes four songs that describe the key parts of the book: the beginning, the characters, the romance, and the ending. 

The last Soundtrack Saturday post on Crazy for YA was about two months ago. Cassia, who usually does the Soundtrack Saturday, has taken an unexpected hiatus, so we are now missing our music expert.

I am in no way a musician and my singing voice sounds like a tone-deaf smoker who has bronchitis. But, I have been wanting to try this meme. Even though I cannot sing, I listen to music all of the time. As you know, I am a lover of anything that involves words, so lyrics are my favorite part of any song (but a catchy tone does not hurt).

The book that I choose to highlight is Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross.


January 22, 2015

Discussion | BookTube: YouTube for Book Nerds

I love reading other blogs, I really do, but sometimes I also love to watch book lovers show their passion through video.

Sometimes, emoticons, CAPS LOCK, and gifs are not enough to sufficiently express the emotions of a reader. For these occassions, video is the only way to capture the pure emotion of reading.

BookTube is a small, but flourishing part of YouTube.

It is the corner of YouTube where book lovers unite to share their unique views in entertaining, thoughtful, and down-right hilarious videos.

Here is a list of my favorite BookTubers.


January 20, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | Best YA Covers of 2014

This is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Today is a freebie Top Ten Tuesday. That means we can pick our own topics! 

We decided to make a list, in no particular order, of our favorite young adult book covers from 2014.



Tessa

Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss, #3)

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1)

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle, #3)

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Everything Leads to You

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)

Cress by Marissa Meyer

The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1)

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

Infinite (Newsoul, #3)

Infinite by Jodi Meadows

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1)

Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

What was your favorite cover of 2014? Do any of these books live up to their beautiful covers?

January 15, 2015

Angelbound by Christina Bauer

Angelbound

Angelbound (Angelbound, #1)Author: Christina Bauer
Series: Angelbound #1
Release Date: December 17, 2013
Pages: 532
Review by: Tessa

Myla knows something is wrong when Purgatory is worse than Hell.

She has to face the real monsters--the human souls who would do anything to create chaos. She also has to fight them.

Myla is an Arena fighter in Purgatory. Her job as a quasi-demon is to prevent evil souls from getting into heaven.

But Purgatory has gotten a makeover since the ghouls took over. Quasi-demons are not residents anymore, but workers who cater to the ghouls' every whim.

When her world is crumbling, Myla is ready to bring her fighting skills outside of the Arena.




January 13, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To

This is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

2014 was a good blogging and reading year for everyone here at Crazy for YA, but there are still some hyped books that we just did not get to read. There are all kinds of reasons: lack of money, lack of time, and pure laziness. 

Today's topic is the 2014 releases that got away from us.

January 12, 2015

Ebook Deals | January 2015


Ebook Deals is a new feature here at Crazy for YA. We have decided that it will be monthly with special editions near the holidays.

The reading challenges have begun and you are probably wondering how you are ever going to read enough books. You do not even want to think about how you are going to buy enough books. 

Your problem is solved! This month's ebook deals are all interesting. 

Now you can start all of your challenges and still have a full wallet.

January 8, 2015

Taylor Swift Book Tag

Today, we are presenting you with the Taylor Swift Book Tag! This idea originated from Katytastic on Youtube, but Emily from Books and Cleverness brought it into the blogosphere. We were tagged by EI @ Eclectic Introspections.

You can find the playlist of all of Taylor Swift's songs here.








January 6, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | Most Anticipated Debut Novels for 2015



This is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing girls over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Today's topic is our most anticipated debut novels for 2015. In this list, you will find that books we cannot wait to read from first-time authors.





Max 

Becoming Jinn (Becoming Jinn, #1)

Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein

Expected Publication: April 21, 2015
Tracked

Tracked by Jenny Martin

Expected Publication: May 5, 2015

Valiant

Valiant by Sarah McGuire

Expected Publication: June 9, 2015

Dead to Me

Dead to Me by Mary McCoy

Expected Publication: March 3, 2015

The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Expected Publican: January 15, 2015

Tessa


An Ember in the Ashes

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Expected Publication: April 28, 2015

The Night We Said Yes

The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi

Expected Publication: June 16, 2015

The Cost of All Things

The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman

Expected Publication: May 12, 2015

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Expected Publication: February 10, 2015

In a World Just Right

In a World Just Right by Jen Brooks

Expected Publication: April 28, 2015

What are you excited to read in 2015? Are you waiting for any debut novels?

January 4, 2015

Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award

 This award is used to connect women bloggers all over the world. It acknowledges that we all have unique voices and that they deserve to be heard.

We were nominated by the lovely Paranoid Puppet @ The Inside Mind of a Paranoid Puppet.






Like all award tags, this one has specific rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their website.
2. Put the award logo on your blog to show that you are now part of the sisterhood.
3. Answer the ten questions from the blogger who nominated you.
4. Nominate ten bloggers.
5. Write ten questions for your nominees to answer.


January 2, 2015

Discussion | Can Authors Write Too Many Books?


I am currently having a mini crisis -- I ran out of space on my bookshelf.

Really, I ran out of space a long time ago, but I continued to shove books in every crevice available. Now, I have accepted the fact that if I stuff another on the shelf I will have to brace myself for the biggest avalanche ever to be seen in my room.

While I was mourning this tragedy, I began to realize a pattern on my bookshelves. Most of the books are series, or part of series. Some of them are companion novels too. I have a lot of books, but they are all by the same authors.

I have also noticed this pattern on my new Kindle. I have found so many novellas that I never knew existed. It seems that some authors write more novellas than actual novels.

A popular example that I found for this is Cassandra Clare.

She has written three trilogies for the same world, and she is currently working on another that will be released later this year.

Novels

The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess
The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass
The Mortal Instruments 2: City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire
The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight, Prince of Shadows, The Queen of Air and Darkness*
The Last Hours: Chains of Gold, Chains of Iron, Chains of Thorns*
The Wicked Powers: untitled, but it will be a trilogy*

Total: 18 books

*Series that are still in development

Novellas and Companions
The Shadowhunter's Codex
Shadowhunters and Downworlders
The Bane Chronicles: What Really Happened in Peru, The Runaway Queen, Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale, The Midnight Heir, The Rise of the Hotel Dumort, Saving Raphael Santiago, The Fall of Hotel Dumort, What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything, The Last Stand of the New York Institute, The Course of True Love (and First Dates), The Voicemail of Magnus Bane
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy: Welcome to the Shadowhunter Academy, The Lost Herondale, The Whitechapel Fiend, Nothing by Shadows, The Evil We Love, Pale Kings and Princes, Bitter of Tongue, The Fiery Trial, Born to Endless Night, Angels Twice Descending*

*Series still in development

Total: 23 

That is enough to fill an entire bookshelf.

Do not get me wrong, I still love Clare's writing. Her characters are complex, funny, and entertaining. I love how she created her own world. Her writing style is one of my personal favorites. I just cannot read another book about the Shadowhunter world.

When I read a book, I automatically fill in the little details that the author leaves out with my own imagination. For me, this make the world my own. This is why I love open ended books. Then, I am free to run wild and imagine what could have happened. I do not need an author to dictate every single facet of their world. Then, it is the author's world, not mine. My problem is that I am having trouble putting my own mark on Clare's world. In a way, she invaded my carefully constructed plans for Magnus's past lives. I feel as if her world is colliding with the own inside my own head. Her books are becoming more destructive to me than enjoyable. It is like Clare is throwing her books at me faster than I can absorb.



Clare's series will always hold a special place in my nerdy heart, but I am not sure if her recent/developing series will.

I will gladly read anything else she writes, as long as it is not in the Shadowhunter world. Unfortunately, it does not seem like she is going to stop anytime soon.

I also have this problem with epilogues in general. I almost cried during the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows epilogue. Everything about the future was spelled out for the reader with practically no room to imagine anything.

I have been struggling with other books too, like The Heir by Kiera Cass and The Specials by Scott Westerfield. I do not want to have my version of the story be ruined.

I am definitely an open-ended reader. I love cliffhangers and mysterious endings, but I guess I am in the minority.
Do you like open endings? How do you feel about epilogues? Are you continuing with the Shadowhunter series? If so, why?