Follow Friday!!

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read.

This is my 2nd Follow Friday post. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to visiting your pages and reading your posts.

Q. How important is good writing to you? In an ideal world, a book would be beautifully written AND have great character development, plot, etc. But in the real world, which do you prefer: (1) Great characters and plot with lousy writing or (2) Middling character development and plot but gorgeous writing?

Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole

Genre: YA, contemporary, realistic fiction

Release Date: November 8, 2013

Publisher: Flux

Format: ebook                     Pages: 349

Sources: Gift

Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin

Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin

Genre: YA, romance, paranormal, fantasy

Release Date: December 17, 2013

Publisher: Ink Monster, LLC

Format: ebook                     Pages: 267

Series: Alpha Girl #1
Sources: Gift

“ Who needs normal anyway?”

First Ever FOLLOW FRIDAY post!!

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read.

This is my very first Follow Friday post. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to visiting your pages and reading your posts.

Q. Have you ever convinced someone to read a book, a series, or a whole genre? What book(s) and who was it? Did they like it?

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Genre: YA, romance, contemporary, coming of age

Release Date: Febraury 26, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Format: ebook                     Pages: 325

Sources: Kristen @ My Bookish Fairytale

Goodreads Synopsis

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

My Thoughts: 

The Cover: The cover for this one was very simple, yet cute. It suggested a light read, something fun and sweet. I really liked the simplicity and the light colors of the drawing.

The Plot:  The plot of Eleanor & Park was not as lighthearted and fun as the cover suggested. That's not to say it was bad. I very much enjoyed the story to Eleanor & Park. The pacing was good and I found it interesting to hear from both of the main characters' point of view. Oh, the simplicities of a teen romance. I will state however that the ending shattered it for me. This is a great story, but, in my humble opinion, the ending sucked. Sorry, Rainbow.

Characters: I loved our main characters. Eleanor was just so broken that you wanted to try to superglue all her pieces back to make a beautiful butterfly that cannot be touched by the darkness of the human psyche. Sorry, I will stop now. Park was so amazingly shy and he kept his sweetness so hidden. He was perfect for Eleanor, showing her that she deserved love and affection. It is so disheartening because you know that this is a reality for some children.

Is it Worth Reading?:  Yes. Aside from not liking the ending, it was a very good book. But the spell was broken for me and it took me a couple days to write this review. An amazing book, but I just can't get past the way it ended.

I give this one 4/5 crossbows!

New Follower Giveaway

Hey everyone,

I wanted a way to thank people for following me, so I decided to do a fun rafflecopter draw. For the next month, any new followers will get the opportunity to win a new book of their choice. All you have to do is follow the directions below. So follow me, share the good news and let me know your favorite books and authors. 

Books will be sent to you from bookdepository.com. Thanks for following and I look forward to getting to know you all in the near future.

Yours truly, 

Becca

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Genre: YA, romance, contemporary, realistic fiction

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Format: ebook                     Pages: 323

Sources: Gift

“ When I couldn’t sleep, she would tell me to imagine myself in a bubble over the sea. I would close my eyes and float there, listening to the waves. I would look down at the shimmering water. When the bubble broke, I would hear her voice, making a new bubble to catch me.                 Pg 10

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout

Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout

Genre:  Animals, romance, humor, and mystery

Release Date: April 8^th, 2014

Publisher: Hyperion

Format: ebook                     Pages: 336

Series: Cyrus Mills #2        Source: Netgalley

When Dr. Cyrus Mills returned home after inheriting his estranged father's veterinary practice, The Bedside Manor for Sick Animals, the last thing he wanted was to stay in Eden Falls, Vermont, a moment longer than absolutely necessary. However, the previously reclusive veterinarian pathologist quickly found that he actually enjoyed treating animals and getting to know the eccentric residents of the tiny provincial town-especially an alluring waitress named Amy. 

So Cyrus is now determined to make Bedside Manor thrive. Not an easy goal, given that Healthy Paws, the national veterinary chain across town, will stop at nothing to crush its mom-and-pop competitor. And the rival vet practice isn't Cyrus's only competition; a handsome stranger shows up out of nowhere who clearly has a mysterious past with Amy. To top it off, Cyrus finds himself both the guardian of a very unique orphaned dog and smack in the middle of serious small town drama.

This charming sequel to The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs is a wild and delightful ride through one jam- packed week, where Cyrus must figure out how to outsmart the evil veterinary conglomerate, win back Amy's heart, solve several tricky veterinary cases, find a home for an orphaned dog, and detangle himself from an absurd case of mistaken identity. DOG GONE, BACK SOON brims with Nick Trout's trademark humor, charm, and captivating animal stories, and is proof that all dogs, lost or not, on four feet or two, deserve a second chance.

Breathe Into Me by Sarah Fawkes

Breathe Into Me by Sarah Fawkes

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Drama

Release Date: April 8^th, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Format: ebook                     Pages: 288

Sources: Netgalley

STANDALONE, FULL-LENGTH NOVEL. 
HEA ENDING, NO CLIFFHANGERS.

How did my life get so broken?  It’s a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day. Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker exboyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.

And then she meets Everett, whose presence changes her entire existence.

Everett is an outsider to her small community, in town for the summer housesitting one of the grand mansions off the Mississippi coast. When he saves her in a bar one night, she’s grateful but wary of his intentions. Lacey doesn’t trust most men in her life, but for reasons Lacey can't understand, Everett is completely captivated by her. He’s determined to show her that life can offer more than she’d ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself. As she works with him to free herself, Lacey desperately yearns to trust him, to move on and perhaps start fresh.

But what happens when she finds out that everything he’s told her about himself was a lie?