The Reading Hideaway

Title: The Living Author: Matt de la Pena Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Shy took the summer job to make some money. In a few months on a luxury cruise liner, he'll rake in the tips and be able to help his mom and sister out with the bills. And how bad can it be? Bikinis, free food, maybe even a girl or two—every cruise has different passengers, after all.  But everything changes when the Big One hits. Shy's only weeks out at sea when an earthquake more massive than ever before recorded hits California, and his life is forever changed.  The earthquake is only the first disaster. Suddenly it's a fight to survive for those left living. Review: I have just a few quick updates before I rant about how amazingly awesome The Living was... (=  1) I have a poor reason for my lack of blogging -- Life got in the way. You have no idea how upset it makes me when I don't have time to read a book, or do anything I...

Title: Waiting on the Sidelines Author: Ginger Scott Publisher: Self-Published Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Nolan Lennox had things figured out. Named after a baseball legend, she enjoyed being the Tomboy, her closet filled with her brother’s hand-me-downs, cut-off jeans and soccer shorts. But when her first trip to high school results in a broken heart from the first boy to ever make her heart flutter and cruel words from an older girl she once thought a family friend, Nolan starts to question the very person she thought she was and wonders if her humble upbringing can compete with the afforded luxuries of her privileged peers.  Throughout the next four years, Nolan struggles to maintain herself throughout her path of discovery, learning just how cruel teenagers can be through the pressures of underage drinking, sexuality and class. And despite how life seems to continue to work against her, she still manages to listen to her heart, falling deeper and dee...

Title: The Notebook Author: Nicholas Sparks Publisher: Bantam Rating: 3 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned form the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.  Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will st...

Title: Looking for Alaska Author: John Green Publisher: Speak Rating:  2 Synopsis (via Goodreads): Before.  Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.  After.  Nothing is ever the same. Review: This book should really be titled Sex & Booze because a majority of what I read revolved around those two subjects. I'd rather not read about some teenage kid watching porn and experiencing...

Title: Revived Author: Cat Patrick Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   It started with a bus crash.  Daisy Appleby was a little girl when it happened, and she barely remembers the accident or being brought back to life. At that moment, though, she became one of the first subjects in a covert government program that tests a drug called Revive.  Now fifteen, Daisy has died and been Revived five times. Each death means a new name, a new city, a new identity. The only constant in Daisy's life is constant change.  Then Daisy meets Matt and Audrey McKean, charismatic siblings who quickly become her first real friends. But if she's ever to have a normal life, Daisy must escape from an experiment that's much larger--and more sinister--than she ever imagined.  From its striking first chapter to its emotionally charged ending, Cat Patrick's  Revived  is a riveting story about what happens when life an...

Title: Deadly Cool Author: Gemma Halliday Publisher: HarperTeen Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren’t enough, now he’s depending on Hartley to clear his name.  But as much as Hartley wouldn’t mind seeing him squirm, she knows he’s innocent, and she’s the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school’s resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer’s next victim. Review: I guess July of 2014 has been dubbed my 'murder-mystery' month. Wound up reading The Killing Woods first, and now Deadly Cool . (2 for 2!) What next?! I'm a sucker f...

Title: The Killing Woods Author: Lucy Christopher Publisher: Chicken House Ltd Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child? Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary, the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.  A new psychological thriller from the award-winning and bestselling author of STOLEN and FLYAWAY.   Review:  Is it bad that I love murder mysteries so much? It's hard to find such an intriguing one that leaves me guessing who the killer is with various plot twists, but The Killing Woods didn't disappoint.  I won The Killing Woods via a Rafflecopter giveaway who knows when - that's how long the book has been on the shelf - and ...