Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger

My very first post was in September of 2007.  Back then I was on Blogger and later transferred everything over to WordPress.  Here are my favorites from my Read List from 2006 and previously.

1. Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer, Dec 06
2. Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery, Oct 06
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling, June 06
4. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella, May 2006
5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, Nov 05
6. Eragon: Inheritance Book One by Christopher Paolini, March 05
7. My Antonia by Willa Cather, March 05
8. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Aug 04
9. Night by Elie Wiesel, Aug 04
10. The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, July 04

Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On If I Were Also A Fictional Character

1. Jamie Fraser from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (!!!)
2. Marcello Forelli from Waterfall series by Lisa T. Bergren – see my post here about him
3. Ridley Adam Cooper from To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander
4. Tristan Archer from the Archers of Avalon series by Chelsea Fine
5. Lucas Dalton, Duke of Winterson from Manda Collins’ How to Dance with a Duke
6. King Steldor in Allegiance by Cayla Kluver
7. Jericho Tucker from A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer
8. Jondalar from The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel
9. Edward from Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
10. Dr. Neil MacNeill in Christy by Catherine Marshall

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

1. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
2. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
3. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
4. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
5. These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
6. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
7. Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren
8. How to Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins
9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
10. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Teaser Tuesday – The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden

The girl he thinks he loves needs to disappear.  I don’t want tonight to be irreversible, so I pull away, breathing him in one last time.  Then I walk away, leaving him on the bridge in the rain, along with the old Ella.

The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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 two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Top Ten Books I HAD To Buy…But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Unread

Let me just say I have WAY MORE than 10 of these!  This year I’m really trying to limit my book purchases, read the books I have on my shelf that I just had to have, and get rid of those books I am just not interested in anymore.  Easier said than done, but I have made a few trips to Half Price, sold a few boxes of books and left without any new books in my hand.  I call that a success.

I’m noticing all of these are YA books and I think my reading tastes are moving away from this genre, so I’m less likely to pick these up to read.

1. A Million Suns and Shades of Earth by Beth Revis – LOVED Across the Universe!
2. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3. Avow (Archers of Avalon #3) by Chelsea Fine – SERIOUSLY need to read this!
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- I think I fell into the hype on this one
5. Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
6. Divergent by Veronica Roth
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculia Children by Ransom Riggs – I’ve picked this one up to read a few times, but didn’t get very far after that
8. Heist Society by Ally Carter – I have a ton of Ally Carter books and haven’t read ANY of them
9. The Lying Game by Sara Shepard – I love the TV show and since I’ve read that the 2 are different, I just don’t know if I still want to read the books
10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Top Ten Books On My Spring 2013 TBR list

These covers are so pretty and I’m finally back in a reading mood! I’ve got my Kindle all powered up and ready to go!!

1. The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs
2. Sweet Laurel Falls (Hope’s Crossing #3) by RaeAnne Thayne
3. Currant Creek Valley (Hope’s Crossing #4) by RaeAnne Thayne
4. The Wanderer (Thunder Point #1) by Robyn Carr
5. The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb
6. Spellbound Falls by Janet Chapman
7. Summerset Abbey by T.J. Brown
8. Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra’s Daughter #1) by Stephanie Dray
9. Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
10. Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2) by Jamie McGuire

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

YA/New Adult Romance, Published July 2012

Read August 2012, 384 pp.

❤ Team: Noah

Challenges: Debut Author Challenge

4/5 STARS

Book Blurb:

“I WON’T TELL ANYONE, Echo. I promise.”

Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone TOUCHED ME like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins?

His DARK BROWN EYES shifted to my covered arms. “You didn’t do that—did you? It was done to you?”

No one ever asked that question.

They stared.

They whispered.

They laughed.

BUT THEY NEVER ASKED.

SO WRONG FOR EACH OTHER…AND YET SO RIGHT.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Thoughts:

This romance is definitely on the borderline of YA and the “New Adult” genre.  While the characters are still in high school, the content still seems quite mature for younger YA readers.  Echo Emerson has problems.  She has survived a very abusive home life and only has a few friends in school.  Noah used to be the popular jock, but now has a few secrets of his own.  While Noah is portrayed to be the bad boy, he really hasn’t done anything wrong, other than defend his younger brothers.  I loved the chemistry between the Noah and Echo and how they truly begin to support one another as friends before anything else.

Can’t wait to read Noah’s friend Beth’s story in Dare You To.  I have a feeling her story is going to be very interesting!

Quotes:

Luke used to give me butterflies.  Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls. (p. 84)

Similar Reads:

• Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry
• Chelsea Fine – Sophie & Carter
• Jessica Sorenson – The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden (Mature – New Adult)
• Jamie McGuire – Beautiful Disaster (Mature – New Adult)

Thanks to NetGalley and HarlequinTEEN for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.