Kindred Reads {3}

3 weeks ago I started posting these book recommendations posts, which I'm hoping to keep posting as a weekly theme post for my blog! This is something that I personally wish I saw more of; after reading a book I enjoy, I often want to read similar books but they can be hard to discover!

These books contain similar elements, whether it's content, writing style, or other themes found in the stories.

If you like...
Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

You might want to read...

Remembrance by Michelle Madow

Reincarnated lovers who are given a second chance, need I say more? It's an extremely similar plot, except I found the characters (Liz and Drew in Remembrance, Emma and Brendan in Spellbound) to be complete opposites. Plus, there's a bit more mythology behind the story in Spellbound. But still, similar stories played out in different ways.

Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel

And... just like Spellbound and Remembrance, Evermore is the story of lovers given another chance in a new life. Except, there are some different and exciting twists in Evermore compared to Spellbound and Remembrance (such as the whole Immortals mythology) which make it stand out. Just take one moody girl, one brooding boy, give them a long history (literally) and VOILA! Instant fated lovers YA novel.

I don't mean to take away from these books, since I read all 3 of them and really enjoyed some of them, but it is true that they're similar.

Are there any others you can think of that are similar to these books? Have you read any (or all) of these? What did you think of them?

Remembrance

Remembrance by Michelle Madow
Released: July 27, 2011
ISBN13: 9780615512

2.5/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
New Hampshire high school junior Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she seem to get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, the pair of them soon find that fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

2.5 Stars (rounded up to 3)
I thought Michelle Madow's spin on fated lovers and reincarnated lives was an interesting one when meshed together with the influence of Taylor Swift's "love story".

I'm a sucker for all things Swifty- I'm a HUGE T Swift fan and I was tremendously excited and curious when I heard about this book, and I really wanted to love it.

And parts of the story really did intrigue me; I was completely enthralled with the past lives of Liz and Drew. I looked forward to every little hint towards what their lives had been like in the past, as it was slowly revealed.

I was also impressed with Madow's writing; the pacing was good and the story was easy to follow along and read.
But what really bothered me about this book were the characters. I had a hard time connecting with Remembrance's characters, any of them. In fact, I was probably more interested in the secondary characters than the main characters. I just didn't care for Elizabeth, Drew, Jeremy, or Chelsea; the friendship between Liz and Chelsea is probably what I found most disappointing.

They were set up as best friends, but I failed to see much of a friendship aspect between them. Liz seemed to spend more time complaining bitterly about Chelsea's relationship with Drew than anything else; and while Jeremy was a huge jerk to her, so was Drew at times. And Liz wasn't always such a sweetheart herself, either. There was too much teen angst for very little outcome, besides a happily ever after for the romantic interests.

That being said, I really did enjoy the beginning of the book, although there were still a few bits that rubbed me the wrong way regarding the characters even then. But after reading this, I am interested in seeing what else Michelle Madow writes in the future.

Review copy provided from the author in exchange for my honest review; no other compensation was received. Thank you, Michelle!

In My Mailbox {8}

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren, which allows bloggers to share what books they’ve received in the past week. They can be from stores, contests, tours, publishers, libraries, borrowed books from friends, and the list goes

on! It's just a way of showing off the books you received in the past week and making sure they're featured on the blog.

This week I received:

• Eyes in the Mirror by Juila Mayer (from Sourcebooks for upcoming blog event)



• Blood Red Road by Moira (RAK gift from Harpreet)



• Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (RAK gift from Harpreet)



• Midnight Dance by Lila DiPasquia (giveaway book won from The Season blog)



• Sirensong by Jenna Black (signed copy won in a giveaway Dark Faerie Tales)



• ARC of Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard (from Harper Collins Canada for upcoming blog event)



• Hunger Games: Tome 1 (I purchased the French version because I <3 it so much, even though I've already read it! From Amazon)



• ARC of First Kill: The Slayer Chronicles #1 by Heather Brewer (won in a Goodreads giveaway from Penguin Canada)



• Grace for the Good Girl by Emily Freeman (from Graf-Martin and Bethany House for upcoming blog event)

I'm really excited about these :)

And I received a bunch of cool swag too! Lila DiPasquia sent me some signed bookmarks, a bookplate and some trading cards for winning her newest book which was very sweet!

500 Follower Celebration!

Wow.

This has to be one of the coolest things, ever. I really can't believe it but I've now reached 500 followers (after only two months of book blogging!) :) And I am so pleased that I get to celebrate this with all 500 of you! ;)

And just like I promised a few weeks ago, I have a pretty nice giveaway for you (if I do say so myself. And I do say so).

There will be FIVE prizes.

Because I'm Canadian, one will be open to Canadian entrants only.

Because I can only afford so much shipping, another will be open to Canada/US entrants only.

But because I love each and every one of you, THREE will be open to International entrants. Two of those prizes will be coming from The Book Depository, so as long as TBD ships to you, it's all good. I'll be mailing the last one myself.

You can enter to win as many of the prize packs as you are eligible for, but you can only win one prize pack.

So without further ado, the prizes are as follows:

Super Awesome Writer's Prize Pack: (International)

• Revised edition of "No Plot? No Problem! - A High-velocity, Low-stress Way to Write a Novel in 30 Days": Novel Writing Kit
• One book of your choice valued up to $10 Canadian from The Book Depository

Super Awesome Reviewer's Prize Pack: (International)

• The Book Lover's Journal (this is actually what I use while reading to help me review books)
• One book of your choice valued up to $10 Canadian from The Book Depository

Super Awesome Canadian Reader's Prize Pack (Canada only)

Super Awesome North American Reader's Prize Pack (US/Canada only)

Super Awesome Worldwide Reader's Prize Pack (International)

The winner's of the last three prize packs will get to choose TWO books from a list of books I will provice them with at the end of the contest. I can promise that the following books will be included on that list, and that more will be added later! Winners will choose books in order of who confirms their prize with me first and provides me with shipping information.

• ARC copy of Legend by Marie Lu
• ARC copy of Crossed by Ally Condie
• ARC of The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
• ARC of David by Mary Hoffman
• Ripple by Mandy Hubbard
• Eyes in the Mirror by Julia B. Mayer

(Note: I'd kind of like to keep the ARCs of Legend and Crossed separate since they're both pretty highly anticipated upcoming books)

The Fine Print (aka The Rules):

• You must be at least 13 years old (if you're under 13, your entry will be deleted) with parental permission (unless you're over 18)
• No P.O. Boxes
• You must be a follower of this blog through GFC or subscribe via e-mail
• You will have 48 hours to confirm your prize and send me your mailing information. Winner will be announced on my blog as well as by e-mail (to the winners).
• Winner are chosen by random.org
• I am not responsible for items lost in the mail.
• I have the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit (such as duplicate entries, not completing the form properly, not following the rules, etc.)

Giveaway will end on September 24th. You must be a follower for this one, because it is a follower giveaway. If you're an e-mail subscriber who is not subscribed by GFC but would like to be entered, please e-mail me!

And now, I give you the form to fill out

500 Follower Celebration Giveaway Form!

Labour Day Weekend Read-a-thon!

Katie @ Katie's Book Blog is hosting a read-a-thon for Labour Day weekend! And seeing as it's my last weekend before classes start, and I had nothing else planned I decided it was a good time to sign up! :)

If you want to follow along on Twitter, just use the hashtag #LDreadathon!
To read:

• Exiled by M.R. Merrick
• Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst
• Legend by Marie Lu
• Crossed by Ally Condie
• Remembrance by Michelle Madow
• Grace for the Good Girl by Emily Freeman

UPDATE #1:

I've finished Exiled by M.R. Merrick (which was awesome, by the way!) and I'm just getting into Drink, Slay, Love. Total pages read so far are about 290. It's hard to tell with e-books! Anyways, so far I'm on track which makes me happy :) and both books are really good; Drink, Slay, Love is hilarious!

UPDATE #2:

Finished Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst as well. Definitely recommended! This puts my total pages read count at about 632, which is good since it's now bed time ;)

UPDATE #3:

All done with Legend by Marie Lu! I'm really excited for this one to be released; I think readers are really going to enjoy it! Now I'm onto Crossed by Ally Condie.

UPDATE #4:

I just finished reading Crossed by Ally Condie and I LOVED it! I enjoyed Matched, but Crossed really is so much better. I was going to read through Grace for the Good Girl now by Emily Freeman, but after flipping through it I think it's one that's better saved to be read a chapter per day. So I'll move on to read Remembrance by Michelle Madow! This brings my total page count to 1335.

FINAL UPDATE #5:

Remembrance by Michelle Madow is now done as well! That brings my final total up to 5 books for this Labour Day read-a-thon (since I skipped Grace for the Good Girl once I took a better look at it) and my total pages read count to a grand total of: 1629! I'm happy with how much I got done this weekend :)

Friday Hops

Every Friday,  Parajunkee hosts Follow my Book Blog Friday! So welcome to another stop on this hop!

It's fairly simple- follow the hosting blog, the feature blog, and then use the links to discover new blogs to follow! And if someone follows you, be kind and follow back! It's a fun way to find new bloggers to read :)

Featured Blogger for this week is Lisa Loves Literature.

Q. If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?

This is going to be a spoiler fest so try to write the title of the book as a dominant feature - and warn people about spoilers.

The most recent ending that has bothered me is Witch Song by Amber Argyle.

I really hate spoiling things, but I'll spoil it here: so WARNING. This is a spoiler. It isn't a huge one that will ruin the entire book for you but it is a spoiler regarding the love story in it. But if you're still unsure if you want to read this or not, then you can go check out my review of Witch Song where I only allude to it. And I'll include the rest of my answer AFTER the FF picture so you have time to run away if you want.



I disliked the ending where Joshen proposed to Senna, but they agreed that they'd never get married. I just... don't get it. They ranted about how having children would be a bad idea, and that marriage would lead to children and therefore they would just stay engaged.

Really?! For the rest of their lives?! It just seemed so unromantic. And I loved them together! I guess no one has to get married, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. I would have been happier if they'd just had a little make out session and called it a day. THE END.

Now for the weekend hop hosted by Crazy for Books!

“What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season – A particular book release? Halloween? The leaves changing color? Cooler temperatures? A vacation? (If your next season is other than fall/autumn, tell us about it and what you are most looking forward to in your part of the world!)”

I'm not sure yet. I like fall clothes and fall shoes. And I just bought this really cool fall hat. But other than that- I don't think I'm looking forward to too much besides it getting closer to Christmas! I'm not very interested in starting school yet, even though it's my last year of undergrad.

However, there are some amazing books being released so I'll go with that: Lola and the Boy Next Door, Dark Passage by M.J. Putney, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan... you get the picture.

And last but NOT least.... TGIF at GReads!

Making a Difference: Which book(s) would you put in the hands of 
today's teenagers in hopes of making a difference in their lives?
Anything by Sarah Dessen: Her books are perfect for teenage girls, because the main characters are so easy to relate to. They have all sorts of different issues, but they learn to work through them. Dessen has truly written something for just about everyone.

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger: I just finished reading this one a couple days ago, and as I raved about in my review, I love that it deals with sex so openly. Not in a "go ahead and sleep around with everyone, it's awesome" kind of way, but in a healthy, mature way as the girls try to sort out what's "normal" regarding sex. I think this is a great tool to bring up discussions regarding this matter.

Also, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins: I think this is a book that could get teens, boys and girls alike, into reading. Show them that it's exciting. And more importantly, there are so many underlying messages and themes in HG. SO MANY. I think it could also be a great tool to bring up the importance of politics and our place in that too, because civic responsibility is a big deal to me.


Anyways, thanks for hopping by! I hope you stick around and take a look at some of my posts, reviews, and even see if you want to enter my giveaway for the Back to the Books Hop! And please comment to leave me your link so I can visit your blog as well :) I make sure to visit all of them, and follow a few and leave some comments!

August Wrap Up {2011}

August was such an incredible month for me; I couldn't be more thrilled with how things went! When I started consistently blogging about books at the beginning of July, I had no idea how it would turn out since my previous attempts at blogging had been less than stellar ;) But I'm really enjoying it!

Amazing Events:

I was so fortunate to be able to attend two awesome events in Toronto this month;

Just this week I was invited to the Chapters Indigo Fall Preview Party where they set up their office with some amazing new lifestyle products for Fall 2011. Everything was so beautiful and cool to see; you can tell that they've definitely put a lot of work into finding products that book lovers will enjoy! Plus, the food was absolutely delicious and they were more than generous with giveaways and everyone got to take home a neat swag bag too. I appreciate being able to attend so much, it was such fun and I got to chat with some other Ontario bloggers I met at Penguin (Gwen from Rants~N~Scribbles, Nicole from All I Ever Read and Jen from Lost in a Great Book!) and meet Evie from Bookish as well while she was here!

The second event I attended earlier in the month was Penguin Canada's Razorbill focus group. And wow- talk about fun and enlightening! The exciting news is that Penguin Canada will be launching Razorbill (a Penguin imprint) in Canada fairly soon, and they were interested in hearing some input from a few people involved with reading, many of whom were also bloggers. It was fabulous, and my first time ever getting to meet other people as interested in books as I am! And everyone at Penguin was so helpful and just plain wonderful. I'm thoroughly grateful that I was able to participate!


Books Read or Reviews Posted:

• Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
• Witch Song by Amber Argyle
• The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa
• Winter's Passage (Iron Fey #1.5) by Julie Kagawa
• The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa
• The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa
• Summer's Crossing (Iron Fey #3.5) by Julie Kagawa
• The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa - REVIEW TO COME IN OCTOBER
• Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1) by Richelle Mead
• Descended by Blood (Vampire Born #1) by Angeline Kace
• Ripple by Mandy Hubbard
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer by Nichole Sheldrake
• The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
• A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
• A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

TOTAL = 16

Books Received for Review Purposes (unread as of Sept.1):

• Alcestis by Katharine Beutner
• A Million Suns ARC by Beth Revis
• Bloodrose ARC by Andrea Cremer
• Legend ARC by Marie Lu
• Incarnate ARC by Jodi Meadows
• Veiled rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
• Everything We Ever Wanted ARC by Sara Shepard
• Eyes in the Mirror by Julia Mayer (currently reading!)
• And various NetGalley e-books... still working on sorting those out.

As you can see... I have quite a bit of work to do! But no complaints here at all :)


RAK books received:

• Anna and the French Kiss from Ashley @ Book Labyrinth
• Wildefire from Shannon @ Write to Read
• Blood Red From Harpreet @ A Spark of Interest
• Hush, Hush from Harpreet
• Inside Out from Harpreet

RAK books sent:

• Bloodlines to Isa @ Book Soulmates
• Vampire Academy Graphic Novel to Tynga @ Tynga's Reviews
• Hunger Games Trilogy to Harpreet @ A Spark of Interest
• Delirium to Harpreet
• Wither to Harpreet
• Entwined to Jessica
• Delirium to Angela
• Catching Fire to Tamara @ Tamara's Book Ramblings
• Mockingjay to Tamara

I actually can't remember the blog address for Jessica... I just hope you two enjoy the books :)

UPDATE: Angela mentioned that she doesn't have a blog, so I didn't lose that info at least! *Phew*