Monday Round Up!

 

One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey!

 

Well I had a technical fail week! My desktop now shuts itself down randomly and I had to send my laptop off for repair! Luckily I'd pre scheduled the majority of my posts but I'm behind on comments and posts are now backlogged... How typical of both the computers in my house chose the same heavy blog week to break down!

 

Reviews!
Swell by Julie Rieman Duck- My stop on the Blog Tour- 3½ Hearts!

Other posts!

Top Ten 2012 Contemporary Reads!- Pretty self explanatory post :)

Cover Reveal- Make It Last by Bethany Lopez

Read!

6 Seconds was so different than my usual read and Just For Now was worth the wait!

Reading!

I love it! So far it is everything I hoped it would be :)

What's Next!

 

Someone requested it at the Library so I need to read it fast!

 

Upcoming Posts!

Cover Comparisons- moved to this week!

 

Upcoming Blog Tours 

This week is a busy blog tour week!

6 Seconds of Life Blog Tour- Stopping here tomorrow!

Loving Summer Blog Tour- Stopping here Thursday!

Saving You, Saving Me Blog Tour- Stopping here Saturday!

 

How has your week been?
Hopefully technology didn't fail you :)

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxxx

Swell by Julie Rieman Duck.

Welcome to my stop on the Swell Blog Tour!

When Christian Rusch plucks Beck Ionesco from the freshman ranks for himself, she’s tempted with parties, popularity, and love. But as the free-flowing booze that soaks his world seeps into her own, Beck begins using liquid courage as a way to ignore Christian’s dark moods… and cover her anxiety about his flirtatious friend Hillman.

However, when Christian breaks up with Beck, and Hillman makes a dangerous move, no amount of alcohol can stop the pain or keep her out of trouble. And just when it seems like she’s lost everything, Beck is partnered with Jesse Leary for an art project. After spending time with him, Beck realises it’s more than a study date… and Christian’s not happy about it. Then again, Beck’s not sure she’s happy with him, either.

But only after plowing through a bottle of wine, a wild fight, and one guardrail that becomes Christian’s last call, does Beck admit to her problem and ask for help from the one whose life secretly parallels her own.

This isn't something I would usually pick up but the blurb intrigued me! The book surprised me with it's depth and I really enjoyed it!

What I loved:

• Jenna- I loved Jenna, She was loyal, honest and forgiving, a true friend to Beck. I found her to be an alternate to how Beck would have been if she hadn't been tempted, she showed a mirror image of who Beck was initially and who she could be. I think her reaction to alcohol emphasised how out of control Beck and the 'popular' group were. I liked reading a down to earth girl in a book full of out of control people!
• Jesse- I am in love with Jesse! He was so supportive and genuine. I loved how he came out of nowhere and gradually grew closer to Beck. I think he was the perfect guy for her to meet when she did. He intrigued me with all his knowledge on Alcoholic Anonymous and his secretive life but he was up front and honest to Beck and respected her. All in all I think he saved my opinion of Beck I found myself warming to her more the closer she got to Jesse.
• Subject Matter- I loved how the author approached the topics of alcoholism, peer pressure, unhealthy relationships and sexual assault from such a believable angle. Beck started out as an ordinary girl so her spiralling journey into alcoholism and unhealthy relationships was much more authentic and relatable. She really highlighted how easy it was to slip down the path alcoholism without meaning to and what kind of horrible and dangerous situations it can led to. I liked how she juxtaposed Beck and Christian's unhealthy relationship with alcohol with people like Jenna and Allison who didn't downward spiral as badly. I also liked that Beck didn't make a miraculous recovery but struggled with her addictions. It made for a gritty, realistic read.
• Flashforwards- The little snippets hinting at what would happen to Beck at the start of the first chapters were so intriguing! They warned of the bad path Beck was heading down and kept you guessing exactly what would happen. They were such a clever plot device!

What I didn't love as much:

• Christian and Hillman- I'm grouping these two together as I disliked both initially and that just deepen as the book went on! I found Christian to be insensitive and self absorbed, the fact he allowed the Hillman issue to exist and escalate was inexcusable. I think I disliked him the most as he was disillusioned with how inappropriate his behaviour was towards everyone and focussed only on how it all affected his personal life plan. Hillman was a disgusting human being, an awful friend and an intimidating threatening guy. He had few redeeming qualities and was exactly the kind of guy no one should let their guard down around. I think these two characters were sadly realistic if slightly exaggerated. Christian was the rich guy who depends alcohol to cope and allows it to control him and Hillman, the guy who waited around to take advantage of drunk girls.
• Parents- I was disappointed with most of the parents in this book. The characters were all under 18, mostly drinking their parents' alcohol and out at all hours with no supervision. I have a hard time imagining my parents allowing me or not realising that I was out at all hours and completely wasted almost everyday.... I felt Beck's parents could have intervened earlier although her Dad redeemed himself later on. Christian's parents were so completely oblivious to their son's actions it was shocking! I just felt if the parents had been more observant they could of avoided half the major situations their children ended up in.

I really enjoyed how this book took me out of my usual reading zone! I loved how it explored such deep subject matter, the only negative was I couldn't connect with Beck!

Have you read
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Tour organised by

Monday Round Up!

 One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey!

What do you think of the new header? I've been playing around with doing my own recently! :)
I've had a great week! Caught up with a couple of old friends and went to the Circus- who doesn't love the circus? Not even working four days with little notice could ruin my week!
However my surprise work did affect my blogging schedule and Seeing Redd got sidelined!
 
 
Reviews!
Easy by Tammara Webber- 4 Hearts! Cannot stop re-reading this one!

Other posts!
Top Ten Minor Characters- Check out my favourite minor characters!
Move by Brina Courtney- Book Blast for this new book!

Read!

 Really enjoyed one and I'm writing my review notes all ready for my blog tour stop on 9th November!
 
Reading!

 
Seeing Redd got sidelined with work last week, but I am enjoying it!
 
What's Next!

6 Seconds as it's the next on my TBR blog tour list!

Upcoming Reviews!
Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- Loved this one!
The Lost Son By Tamra Torero and Preston Norton- This one got sidelines last week as it wasn't prewritten!

How has your week been?
Let me know!
Much love!
Lettie
Xxx

Monday Round Up!

 

One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey!
 
This is my first round up post since August!
I've had a good week! I manged to fit in a Freshers week visit to my old Uni to see my friends and took my Godson to the museum! I've been a bit slower with reading- no idea why! But I have been keeping up my scheduling and getting posts scheduled!

Reviews!
Thomas and January by Fisher Amelie. 4 Hearts!
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan 4 Hearts!

Other posts!
Bloggiesta Wrap Up- Check out how I did with my blog goals!
Forbidden Mind Tour- Check out an exclusive extract of the book!
6 Seconds of Life Promo post- Got me excited to read the book asap!
 
Read!

 
I finished off my Steph Campbell binge with her latest release- loved it! I'll be doing one giant review post for all her books next month :)
 
Reading!

 
Two books at once is a old habit of mine!
I'm currently reading Seeing Redd in a bid to finish up The Looking Glass Wars trilogy- enjoying it so far! Swell is for a blog tour next month and so far so good!
 
What's Next!

 
 As I mentioned in the promo blitz this one is for a blog tour- I'm so intrigued by the concept! 
 

Upcoming Reviews!
The Lost Son By Tamra Torero and Preston Norton-This is published tomorrow and my review will be up this week!
Easy by Tamara Webber- Loved this one! Review will be up Sunday!
 
Upcoming Posts!
Top Ten Minor Characters- Check back tomorrow to see who my Top Ten minor characters are!
 
The perks of a schedule is I know exactly what I'm posting and when!

How has your week been?
Let me know!
Much love!
Lettie
Xxx

Stacking The Shelves!

What is Stacking The Shelves all about?

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Picked up a few books this week and I stumbled across this meme! Such a good idea :)

Borrowed
From friends!

As I mentioned in my Holiday post I need to read the Artemis Fowl series asap- luckily my friend was happy to lend me the first two!
Once I unearth Seeing Redd and read it I'll have Archenemy on hand to finish off the series!

Library

My late reserve book which a friend had to pick up for me- Glow was so intriguing I'm excited for the sequel!
I love Paige Toon but I don't always love her books so I decided to borrow instead of buy this one.

Books for Tours

I've signed up for a couple of November blog tours due to Bloggiesta and received the books!
I'm so excited for Shallow- I loved Going Under.
Swell sounds a bit different which is always good!

Previewed

I'm on a Amazon ban (again!) because my TBR list is getting of control! So I've been previewing books to see if I want them :)

Measuring Up and Crash are sort of 'random finds- their previews were so intriguing definitely on the ebook wish list!
Breathe- I really need to read the first Sea Breeze book especially as I love the others so much!
Shallow- I was checking it out as I really enjoyed Going Under!

I've added quite a few books to my TBR this week!
Let me know if you love any of them!

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx