Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: September, 2011 by Penguin
Pages: 384
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion… she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – the more sparkly, more wild – the better. And life is pretty close to perfect for Lola, especially with her hot rocker boyfriend.

That is, until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket return to the neighbourhood and unearth a past of hurt that Lola thought was long buried. So when talented inventor Cricket steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally face up to a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. Could the boy from Lola’s past be the love of her future?

Final Thoughts:
Lola was awesome. She was just one of those narrators that you can’t help but connect with. She felt completely different to Anna, and I loved that. The art of fashion is her life. Designing elaborate and unique costumes for every day of the year, testing boundaries, she had this confidence, and a whole bout of insecurities. The romance may not have had the same desperate pull as Anna and St. Clair’s did, but it didn’t slow me in turning the pages. I devoured this book. Gulped it down. Consumed it. I never wanted that last page to come. But when it did, I had the biggest grin on my face. Stephanie Perkins has sold me. And now with that, comes the wait for Isla and the Happily Ever After.

Title: Attachments
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Published: April, 2011 by Orion
Pages: 357
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

“Hi, I’m the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . ”

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now–reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers–not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for one of them, it’s way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

Final Thoughts:
Attachments has so much heart. I loved every minute I spent with this book. There were no chapters that felt like a chore to get through, rather, I found myself flying through it, struggling to put it down whenever I had to get back to other things…like work. Sure, starting out, I wasn’t sure whether I could get into Lincoln, the IT guy’s point of view, but with the way his character built and built and built, I couldn’t help but love his chapters just as much as the ones spent with the girls.

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews 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!

Titles link back to Goodreads
• City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (purchased)
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (purchased)
• Broken by CJ Lyons (purchased)
• Secret by Brigid Kemmerer (purchased)
• Take Me On by Katie McGarry (purchased)
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (purchased)

Firstly, CoHF, why is that book so large? It looks good on my shelf, but I was so tired after reading it. I feel like it could’ve crushed me if I’d fell asleep reading it in bed. I mean, I enjoyed it, but it just could have been shorter. I needed to read a Rainbow Rowell book after it to recharge.

I found the other two hardcovers, Broken and The Dream Thieves for $8 each at an independent secondhand bookstore I just discovered in a residential side-street. I’ll be going back there. There wasn’t a huge selection, but it was fun seeing what random YA books they had sitting in a tall stack there.

I picked up Take Me On last weekend during Big W’s 10% off sale. I’m still yet to start the series, though, so it’ll be gathering dust on my shelf for a while. However, after how much I loved Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door went straight to the top of my to-read list as soon as it arrived. I’m either starting it today or tomorrow depending on whether I get sucked into watching a Nikita marathon this afternoon. I just finished Fringe yesterday, so Nikita‘s next on my list of TV to watch.

Here’s what Joey and I have been reading this week:
Clare, Cassandra City Of Heavenly Fire – This ate up practically my whole weekend.
Haas, Abilgail Dangerous Girls – Joey took this one on to see what all the hype was about.

So, what books have you gotten lately? Which books would you recommend I read first? Let me know in the comments.

Title: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: May, 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 725
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Shadowhunters and demons square off for the final showdown in the spellbinding, seductive conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian, but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance.

Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?

Final Thoughts:
This book ate my whole weekend. It was just so long. I’ve spent the past six hours on my couch getting through the last 300 pages, feeling like I just wanted it to end. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great book, a great end to the series, but it was just so…I guess ‘tiring’ is the word. All of the characters get a look in, with most getting a fair share of the time spent exploring and wrapping up their plots, but in doing this, it really slowed down the pacing with all of the jumping back and forth to all of the different perspectives. It’s probably a good thing for people who are sick of certain characters, but I just wanted to get to the end and put the heavy (you could use it as a brick) book down.

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews 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!

Titles link back to Goodreads
• Black Dawn by Rachel Caine (purchased)
• Bitter Blood by Rachel Caine (purchased)
• Fall of Night by Rachel Caine (purchased)
• Daylighters by Rachel Caine (purchased)
• Forsaken by Thomas E. Sniegoski (purchased)
• Armageddon by Thomas E. Sniegoski (purchased)
• Fractured by Teri Terry (purchased)
• Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas (library)
• Unremembered by Jessica Brody (library)
• Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone (library)
• The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black (library)

I started buying the Morganville series a few years ago when those 2-book bind ups were being released. It’s such a long series, that I figured it would be the best way to buy them. They released up to book 8, but fast-forward three years and the rest look like they’ll never be made to match. Spotting these four on eBay for $20, I gave in and snapped hold of them. Now I’m just left looking for books 9, 10 and 11. Perhaps at the big, upcoming Lifeline sale if I go along.

The other three I bought were (The Fallen books and Fractured) only to fill up holes in the series I’ve started collecting, but haven’t actually started reading. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. I’m only hoping that I’ll actually enjoy them, perhaps when I reach retirement age and find the time to catch up on my endless tbr list 😉 For now, they’re going on the shelf to collect dust for me.

I also got to the library this week. I love going there, but have to keep forcing restraint on myself. The month goes by so quickly and I’m still sitting here with books due back because I’ve either gone and bought something, or a book I’d pre-ordered has arrived and the library ones get forgotten as I dive into something else. Joey’s helping me with that at the moment. He’s reading Dangerous Girls while I plow through the 700 or more pages of City of Heavenly Fire. (It turned up after I’d taken this week’s photos and couldn’t be bothered re-staging our little photoshoot for one extra book).

Missed these posts? Here’s what we’ve been reading:
Brody, Jessica Unremembered – Thanks for getting me onto this, Kelly. Loved it.
Carter, Ally Perfect Scoundrels – Joey took another stab at the series, getting himself up-to-date.
Perkins, Stephanie Anna and the French Kiss – WHY DID I NOT READ THIS SOONER?

So, what books have you gotten lately? Which books would you recommend I read first? Let me know in the comments.

Title: Unremembered (Unremembered #1)
Author: Jessica Brody
Published: March, 2013 by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Pages: 320
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, she struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Final Thoughts:
Though this took place over only a matter of days, possibly a week, Unremembered felt like such a journey, character-wise. Even from the beginning, I knew it would be. This girl woke up in the middle of the ocean, clinging to a piece of plane wreckage, no memories of herself or the world. She was an enigma, such a deviation from the usual YA heroine we usually get handed. I kept bursting into fits of laughter at all of her inane responses to things that would seem like basic knowledge to most people. I mean, this girl didn’t know what a hug was.

Title: Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: January, 2010 by Penguin
Pages: 416
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Anna has everything figured out – she was about to start senior year with her best friend, she had a great weekend job, and her huge work crush looked as if it might finally be going somewhere… Until her dad decides to send her 4383 miles away to Paris. On her own.

But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna finds herself making new friends, including Etienne, the smart, beautiful boy from the floor above. But he’s taken – and Anna might be too. Will a year of romantic near-missed end with the French kiss she’s been waiting for?

Final Thoughts:
I loved the book. I mean, really…never-wanted-to-put-it-down kind of loved it. I kept finding myself reading extra chapters even after I’d told myself I needed to sleep. It was that kind of book. Although it came out years before Fangirl, I found it gave me a similar kind of giddy rush while reading. I was immersed within their world, really caring about their lives and desperately hoping they would just get things together already. This is a relationship in a book—the good, the bad, all of it. I wasn’t even finished reading it and I was already online ordering the companion novels. I NEED more of Stephanie Perkins. She made me believe in YA romance again.