The Friday 56 (29)

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

For my 56 this week I selected Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, a book I'm currently in the middle of reading. In the past I have read two books by Stiefvater, and it seems to be hit or miss with me. I either love them or I don't.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever...

"Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he punched a quick number and held the phone to his ear. His eyebrows made a straight, hard line, and after a second, he pulled the phone away and stared at the screen"--Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

What's on your page 56 this week? Or, is there a book you plan to read over the weekend?

Review: Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

Title:Love Fortunes and Other Disasters
Author: Kimberly Karalius
Source/Format: Won, Paperback
More Details: Young Adult
Publisher/Publication Date: Swoon Reads, May 12, 2015

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love. Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian. Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love?

Literally as I was finishing my review for Save Me by Jenny Elliott, this book arrived in the mail. My last tango with a Swoon Reads novel left me a little disappointed; however, that wasn't the case this time. I read the prologue of this book and I was hooked. Thankfully, this time around it was better and I ended up loving Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius.

Karalius' book presented the idea of what could happen if fortunes proven to be 100% accurate about love and relationships started to go horribly awry. The story basically follows Fallon Dupree after she goes to the town of Grimbaud for school and an almost mandatory visit to Zita’s Lovely Love Charms shop to have her fortune told. It was a tradition that had worked for her family, but sadly for Fallon things didn’t turn out the way she thought they would. And I enjoyed seeing her try to fight her fortune rather than give up and accept the fate that everyone was convinced would happen. The secondary characters in the story were just fantastic, and I enjoyed how everything worked together—and how the seemingly miscellaneous details ultimately played a role in what happens to the characters.

Romance was a big part of this novel and I have to say that it was cute. I liked the way Karalius handled the relationships in the novel, and developed the characters in a way that it felt natural instead of forced despite the circumstances that brought them together.

Another aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was the writing. There was never a moment that I felt like I couldn’t grasp what was happening, and there was a good flow to the story that kept me engaged. The concept was handled nicely—it seemed like a complete idea, and stuck to the point of the story rather than unraveling. The setting was more or less fitting and there was enough detail so I could easily picture where the characters were going and what was happening around them. I actually really enjoyed how whimsical the novel was.

I had plenty of questions regarding the town and why Zita’s fortunes and charms had such a hold over them. And despite the sunshine and rainbows that constantly hovered over the town of Grimbaud like a fluffy sparkly cloud, I always had that lingering feeling that there was something not right with the pristine, love obsessed town. And as the events gradually unfolded the details became clearer, and I liked the gradual build up to the end.

Basically I was pleasantly surprised by Love Fortunes and Other Disasters. This book is one of my new favorites, and I am looking forward to what Karalius writes next.

**Check back next week for my interview with Kimberly Karalius**

Musing Mondays (33)

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the Week...

Today, since I don't really have much to talk about, I decided that I'm just going to answer the random weekly question: Do you have a favorite book from childhood? What is it?

I have a lot of favorite books from when I was younger, but the most notable ones that I remember were the Spiderwick Chronicles written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. I remember reading the books and just loving the story, characters, setting, and the fairies and everything that happened because of them. The illustrations were also nice and the style always fit with the story. I believe this was the series that got me into fantasy novels to begin with.

I’m also pretty sure that I even got a copy of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and The Spiderwick Chronicles: Notebook for Fantastical Observations. Yeah, I was sort of building a collection of Spiderwick stuff, which was why I was a little disappointed in the movie which changed almost too many things. Anyway, after finishing the Spiderwick Chronicles, I kept reading, moving on to other series like Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley and Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King) by Jenny Nimmo.

What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?

Weekend Tidbits {#4} National Doughnut Day

When I originally thought of doing some kind of occasional weekend post, I already knew that it wasn’t going to be a weekly thing. It’s going to be, as I said above, occasional. All this post is about is the things I’m currently doing or maybe even look forward to. And at the very end I’ll name a place that I wish was a book setting and my choice of tea for the day. (Links for Weekend Tidbits can be found on the Features Page.)

Not much is really new besides the fact that I’ve done some baking, and I put together an interview that’s going to go up later in the month. Anyway, June 5th was National Doughnut day and instead of buying them, I decided to try a new recipe for making them. I have to say that I was really happy with the results—picture below. It was a vegan yeast doughnut made with coconut oil and coconut milk and I used the recipe from Spice Island Vegan, which you can view HERE 

It tasted as delicious as it looks, and it was just like a normal doughnut. Although, I did cut back on how long I chilled it, it still came out perfectly.

Today's location is Mostar, Bosnia. Its a beautiful city and I don't have anything else to say about it. Like always, you can see today's location on the Places I Wish Were Book Settings pinterest board.

My choice of tea for today is Gingerbread, not to be mistaken as just ginger. Its similar, but it's different enough.

The Friday 56 (28)

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

My 56 this week comes from a book I recently read and loved. Its called Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius, one of Swoon Reads books.

About the book (Synopsis from Goodreads)...

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love. Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian. Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love?

"Mr. Dupree spoke next, asking her briefly about her classes, but then the conversation turned sour as her parents started making assumptions about her fortune."--Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius


What would you do if you ever found yourself in the same situation as Fallon Dupree?