Book Review: Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti

Waiting For You
Author: Susane Colasanti
ISBN: 9780670011308

Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti tells the story of Marisa, Derek and Nash. Marisa is a sophomore in high school who has a serious crush on the popular Derek. When he finally begins paying attention to her, she is thrilled. At the same time, Marisa is good friends with Nash, her neighbor and chemistry lab partner. Nash has a crush on Marisa, but Marisa pays him no attention.

Throughout the book, Marisa finds out who is true and who is not. After a little cheating situation, Marisa is forced to accept that sometimes people aren't who you think they are.

A side story about Marisa’s best friend Sterling and her dating adventures is a nice little aside.

I am in love with Nash...why doesn't Nash exist in real life? Read the book and you'll see why Nash is so perfect.

I read this book fairly quickly because it’s so easy to get lost in the thoughts of Colasanti’s characters. Marisa is such a likable and relate able protagonist.

I’m such a fan of Susane Colasanti and I can’t wait until her next book comes out.

3.5/5

Book Review: Beautiful Disaster by Kate Brian

Beautiful Disaster- A Privilege Novel
Author: Kate Brian
ISBN: 9781416967606

I waited about a month on my library’s reserve list to get my hands on this little beauty. I adored the first book Privilege (see my review here) and I equally enjoyed Beautiful Disaster.

Beautiful Disaster by Kate Brian continues the story of Arianna Osgood and her escape from prison. After clearing the path and taking over the identity of Briana Leigh Covington, Ariana is ready to start her new life at Atherton-Pryce boarding school. She becomes friends with the most popular girls, flirts with the hottest guy on campus and is ready to re-start her life of privilege.

However, one thing stands in her way. Kaitlynn Nottingham, Ariana’s “friend” from prison is back in the picture- and she wants money….one million dollars to be exact. Ariana has no idea how she is going to get the money, but she knows that she has to get rid of Kaitlynn.

The drama that ensues is seriously too much to handle.

I loved this book. I can’t get enough of Kate Brian’s writing and I can’t get enough of this series. The way Kate Brian gets a reader engrossed in a story is amazing.

The one complaint I have is that I’m getting a little bit sick of Ariana. I thought she was really likeable even though she is absolutely crazy in the last book, but now I’m finding her character to be a little less believable. I’m finding it hard to keep rooting for her and to keep hoping she doesn’t get caught. I’m ready for a little bit of justice to be served….maybe in the next book of the series?

5/5

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog to discuss what we are reading this week, as well as books completed the previous week.

Books I Completed Last Week:

Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti: Loved it! Can't wait for Colasanti's next book to come out.

Beautiful Disaster by Kate Brian: This one was definitely worth the wait!

Books I'm Reading This Week:

The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik: I started this one today and it's pretty good so far.

The Virginity Club by Kate Brian: Because I can't get enough of Kate Brian, I'm sure I'll like this one, although, it's a different cast of characters than I'm used to!

Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks: I may not get to this one this week, but I recently bought it and will definitely get to it over winter break.

So, what are you reading this week?

Book Sale Goodies

After finding some great books at my local library's book sale in September, I headed to another local library a few weeks ago and found some more great books!

It's a little bit stressful because a lot of people cram into the tiny book sale room, but it's definitely worth it when you leave the room with wonderful books for very cheap.

I also am a tutor at my university's writing center and we recently held a "Book and Media Swap" where people were encouraged to donate their old books, movies and CDs. You could either pay $5 and pick out 5 items or bring 5 items and pick out 5 items. The proceeds were donated to a local charity called Treehouse Books.

Here are some of the books I found at the book sale and the media swap:

Mr Maybe by Jane Green
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
Devil May Care by Sheri McInnis
Love Walked In by Marissa de Ios Santos
Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynkowski
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner
Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

In total, I probably spent about $12.00 for all of these amazing books! Great deal!

Have you found any great books lately at flea markets or book sales? Where do you find books for extremely low prices?

Book Review: Take Me There by Susane Colasanti

Take Me There Author: Susane Colasanti ISBN: 9780670063338

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti tells three intertwined stories: Rhiannon, Nicole and James.

Rhiannon has just been dumped by her boyfriend. She is completely devastated and will do anything (read: ANYTHING) to get him back.

Nicole is Rhiannon’s best friend. Her and her boyfriend Danny have just broken up, but he is still in love with her. However, Nicole is in love with someone else…an older man.

James is Rhiannon’s other best friend. They’ve known each other forever. James’s girlfriend just dumped him because of his close friendship with Rhiannon.

All three friends live and go to high school in New York City. The book takes place during one week of their lives and each chapter is told through each of the three main character’s viewpoints.

Like in Colasanti’s debut novel When It Happens, Take Me There is also intriguing and exciting because you get to hear the story from three unique perspectives. The timing is really interesting because the book only takes place during one week, but you hear about each day from each character which is exciting.

I loved the dynamic of three main characters because I really fell in love with Nicole, Rhiannon’s best friend. Normally, the main character’s best friend sort of takes on a secondary backseat role, but in this book, she is a main character herself. I really enjoyed her storyline.

Like I said in my last review of When It Happens, Colasanti is just so real. She writes like she really understands what is going on in a teenager’s head. She inspires me to do the kind of writing I’ve always wanted to do!

4/5

November Wrap-Up

November is officially over and December (aka my favorite holiday season) is here! Let's re-cap what happened here at Cover to Cover in November.

Books Read:

Ex-Mas by Kate Brian
The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
The Au Pairs: Crazy Hot by Melissa de la Cruz
When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
Take Me There bySusane Colasanti

This was a very sloooowwww reading month. It started out because of NaNoWriMo, then I traveled to San Diego and then school took over my life. I know December will be much better because I will have tons of free time once finals are over. I always read a lot over the holidays.

My favorite book of the month? When It Happens by Susane Colasanti. As I mentioned in my review, I really loved this book and I think I may have found a new favorite author.

On the blog:

-In the month of November, I gained 6 new blogger followers 17 new Google subscribers!

-I read 5 books and reviewed 7 books on the blog.

-I wrote 3,628 words of my novel during NaNoWriMo..unfortunately, I gave up after a few days because I was too busy, but I will definitely be re-visiting my novel very soon.

This month I hope to:

-Read at least 10 books.

-Continue writing my novel.

-Finish my first challenge: Fall Into Reading 2009.

How was November for you? What are you up to this month? Any new goals?

Library Love

Ever since I was little, I've loved going to the library. My mom would send me off with a plastic bag to fill with books and my very own library card. I would browse the kids section picking up any book that looked remotely interesting. I'd proudly hand over my card to the librarian and start stacking the books on the table to be checked out.

My library-going dwindled as I got older because I felt like I had already read all the good books in the place. Then, I discovered the beauty of the online reservation.

The day I discovered my library had a Web site linking me to 100 other local libraries, I was ecstatic. I realized I could put basically any book I wanted on reserve and 1 of these 100 libraries would ship it to my local library. Amazing concept, isn't it?

Ever since then, I've been a little library crazy. I have a long list of books that I want to put on reserve and at any given time, I have about 5 library books at home.

I know what you're thinking...I want to be an author and here I am not even buying books and supporting authors. Not totally true. I do purchase books that I love and know that I want to own to add to my bookshelf, but as a college student, I don't have the funds to feed my reading addiction. When I'm older, I plan on purchasing way more books from the book store.

If you haven't checked out what your local library offers, I would definitely do so. It's a great way to save money if funds are a bit tight right now

Do you use your local library or do you prefer to buy books?