Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Just Had to Buy...

The meme Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Thanks for hosting this fun meme!

I don't take part in this meme every week, just when the question/topic strikes my fancy. This week's top ten is:

Top Ten Books I Just Had to Buy...

But Are Still Sitting on My Shelf

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

2. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

4. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson

5. Fallen by Lauren Kate

6. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

7. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

8. Firelight by Sophie Jordan

9. Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

10. Tomorrow, When the War Began by James Marsden

It wasn't too hard to put together a list this week, because I have loads of books just sitting in front of me waiting to be read! I really need to get round to them soon - but I keep buying more. 

I'd love it if you would leave links to your TTT below, and I'll come and visit your blog!

February Wrap Up

A quick post to show what went on in the month of February - it was a brilliant month!


Books Read and Reviewed:
1. Hungry For You by Lynsay Sands (Adult)
2. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (Blog | Youtube)
3. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (Blog | Youtube)
4. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Blog | Youtube)
5. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Blog | Youtube)
6. An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris (Adult)
7. My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent (Blog | Youtube)
8. Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen (Blog | Youtube)
9. Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles (Blog | Youtube)
10. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Blog | Youtube)
11. VA: Frostbite by Richelle Mead (Blog | Youtube)


Total: 11


Books Bought:
IMM#14 IMM#15 IMM#16


Post You Shouldn't Have Missed!:
- Guest Posts from Alice and Cicely
- Guest Post from Julie Kagawa (The author of The Iron Fey series)
- Supernaturally Cover Reveal
- Vanish Cover Reveal


Overall, aside from my laptop breaking down and then the internet connection also failing, I had a pretty good month! How was your February? Feel free to link me to your wrap up posts, if you have them. 


Wishing you all an excellent month of March!

In My Mailbox - (16)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.
Thank goodness  I'm back into the weekly book hauls. That means that now there aren't going to be videos that are 10+ minutes long, showing over 20 books! At least for a while. I'm also restricting my spending for a while, because I'm saving for both my holiday in July and my future backpacking trip to Australia. 





This week I bought (all links go to Amazon US):


- I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter
- Heist Society by Ally Carter
- Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
- I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
- Candor by Pam Bachorz
- Salem Falls by Jodie Picoult


And Supernatural Season Four on DVD!!! YES!!

Book Review: Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Release Date: April 1st, 2007
Publisher: Flux (US)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
Recommended? Give it a try.
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other. - Goodreads page

  

I actually had a bit of trouble stirring up a review for this book.. so bear with me: 

I have to say, after reading Perfect Chemistry and hearing that Leaving Paradise is a better book (from some people at least) I was excited to start reading. However, I was left disappointed. 

Maybe I had set my standards too high, or maybe this book is just not for me.

The overall plot was, like in Perfect Chemistry, rather cliché, but I can live with that. There’s nothing wrong with clichés! However, if you nitpick (as I do) then I think you’ll find a few things that you dislike about this book. I won’t go into too much detail in case of spoilers, but the ending was a major throwback for me. As was the fact that this book seemed to go in circles.

I did not like the ending. Perhaps that’s because I know that there is a sequel, but I think this book could have benefited from being a standalone novel, and leaving the ending as it is. I just felt that the last couple of chapters seemed pretty pointless, and had too much lined up for the sequel, rather than focussing on the current story. 

As with Perfect Chemistry, the story is told from the alternating points of view of Caleb - an ‘ex-con’ - and Maggie, the girl that Caleb ran over in his car. As characters go, I felt that these two were fairly average in their personalities. 

Although the two had amazing back-stories, and there was so much to tell about their lives, I felt that their personalities fell a little flat. 

I found that Caleb was annoying and, at times, incredibly selfish. This trait didn’t seem to be developed or go away during the novel, and that’s one of the main things that put me off this character. 

To be completely honest, the writing style is one of the few things that drew me into this book and kept me reading. If Simone Elkeles didn’t have such an amazing skill of keeping me interested, I don’t think I would have made it to the end of the book. 

Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday

Question

Share your current fav television show! Tell us a bit about it...

I have two favourites that I just can't choose from. The first is the CW's Supernatural (Friday nights, 9pm EST) starring Jensen Ackles (<3) and Jared Padalecki. They play two brothers who are supernatural hunters. They travel around the US (and at one point they were in the UK!) hunting "monsters" such as demons, ghosts and vampires. The show is currently in its sixth season, and I'm certainly hoping there's more to come! It's such a fun show, and watching the brothers' relationship is one of the main draws. As well as Jensen (see below). Dean Winchester has some of the best lines on television.

Quote:

[after being arrested for murder, fraud etc]

Henricksen [special agent]: You think you're funny?

Dean: I think I'm adorable.

My other favourite show is also on the CW (Thursday nights, 8pm EST). It's The Vampire Diaries, starring Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley. As you may be able to tell, the show is about vampires - and occasionally the odd werewolf. There's too much going on to really explain, but it is such a great show, you should definitely check it out if you haven't seen it already. Damon Salvatore (IS), again, has some of the best lines of television. He needs them, really, as he has so much going on in his life at the moment. And Nina Dobrev playing two characters at once definitely makes for an interesting viewing!

Quote:

Damon: It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud.

Question

Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?

Some of my long term followers may remember that I actually renamed my blog a while back. When I first started this blog, I didn't know it was going to be primarily for book reviews. I was going to keep it as a travel journal for when I visit Australia. But that took too long coming around (2013!) and so I decided to turn this into a book blog. And of course, "Coconuts and Cream" wasn't the best name! So a couple of months into blogging, I renamed my blog. I'm glad I picked "Books of Amber". It fits nicely, and I think it has a nice flow to it.