The Romance Bookie

I'm a little late on the Cheese Touch...haha, if you don't get what I mean by that...either go out and get your hands on a copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, or rent the movie. I was first introduced to this book series my senior year of high school by a librarian.  Since then my eleven year old brother has read all of them and loved them (and let me just mention he is not a reader!!)!  The seventh book in the series is going to be released in November...which my brother is already counting down the days for!! Anyway, as I was sitting yesterday in the fifth grade class I volunteer in, and reading the last fifty pages of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I felt my eyes welling up!  That book made me cry SOOOO much!!  I just couldn't finish it during the class, because how embarrassing is it to burst out crying in front of a bunch of fifth graders??? Anyway, to make a long story short...I walked over to the class bookshelf, and picked up Diary of...

Before I begin, let me just say I know I'm like the last person in the reading world to read this book...okay not literally, but it sure seems like it!!, but let me just say I've been working up my emotional level to get it started... When reading John Green's The Fault in Our Stars the reader honestly can't help but think...Life is unfair. Why is it that the good people always have to be the ones to go first?  And why so young? Unfortunately, that is how life is a lot of the times.  It's scary, unpredictable, and unfair. And there's nothing we can do to change it... The Fault in Our Stars is the story of Hazel, a 16 year old girl, who found out at the age of 13 that she has Stage IV thyroid cancer.  She's living each day, thinking it might possibly be her last, while rolling an oxygen tank cart behind at all times, to help her lungs breath.  Her mom makes her go to a Support Group, at a church near them, and that's where she meets Augustus Wa...

Okay everyone, yesterday was a sad day... Not only was summer officially over, but I found out one of my absolute favorite shows has been cancelled!!! I am so bummed, and quite frankly a little pissed, because the season/show finale ended on a complete hook and I wanted MORE!!!! What show?? Jane By Design ;(...RIP So even though I know, I've already used this song for Music Tuesday in the past, I have decided to use it again...in honor of Jane By Design ... So here is this week's song...the theme song to Jane by Design "Work of Art" by Rachel Platten! I will absolutely miss you Jane!! AND BILLY!!! I guess you'll just have to be another show put on repeat on Netflix... ;( The Romance Bookie

Hey Everyone!! Today's a sad day... Why? One word... School. Summer has come and gone, way too fast, friends have left to head off to their schools, and now it's time to get back to business. Luckily, I believe I will still have time for reading, because my online classes allow me to do that!  Which is AWESOME!!! Reviews might just not be coming in as normal as usual.  But I'm hoping to have at least one up a week! :) So now to my review!! Actually before I go into The Next Best Thing , I wanted to say some back ground information about Jennifer Weiner, the author. Jennifer Weiner is not only the bestselling author of books like In Her Shoes , which was made into a movie quite a few years ago, featuring Cameron Diaz; but she was also the writer and creator of the ABC Family TV series State of Georgia , which featured Raven Symone ( The Cosby Show & That's So Raven ). Why am I bringing this up, you may be wondering? Well, after reading The Next...

I've got something really exciting today! Actually it was supposed to be on Friday, because that was the day this awesome book was released, but because I completely forgot, I suck!! Anyhow, today I'd like a huge welcome for Lisa Renee Jones, the author of If I Were You !!!!  I actually read this book last month and absolutely loved it!! (Review HERE!! ), so enjoy! The Romance Bookie: Would you tell us a little bit about If I Were You ?   Lisa Renee Jones: If I Were You is a story that came about because my fiancee was buying and selling storage auctions long before the shows ever came about. He found a journal and was enthralled by it. There was plenty of drama in the journal including a murder next door. He was convinced I needed to write a story about a journal found in a storage unit and began bugging me to do it. And bugging me. And bugging me! All that bugging got me thinking and slowly a story took shape. I resisted though so it simmered a long time....

Amy Lignor's second book in The Angel Chronicles is coming out on November 1st!!! SO EXCITED to read this one!!! :) So here's the cover reveal!!     Doesn't it look awesome??!!!   If you haven't heard about The Angel Chronicles then check out my review of the first book in the series,  HERE!!!     The Romance Bookie :)

Still on My Mind is a weekly meme, featured on Thursday, started by Haley over at Ya-Aholic , where you discuss a book you've either recently read, or read over the past few years, that's still on your mind. For this week's Still On My Mind, I'm using a book I read last week.  I absolutely fell in love with this story, and haven't been able to stop thinking about. Emily Giffin's Where We Belong is a great read for anyone!  It captured your heart! Deals with first love, heartbreak, truth, and SO many other things! Here's the Goodread's description: The author of five blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the longing, loyalty and love that binds them together     Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced every...

Hey everyone!! Happy Wednesday!! Today I'd like all of you to please welcome Steven Manchester, the author of Twelve Months !! The Romance Bookie: Tell us about yourself first.  Steven Manchester: I am the proud father of two sons and two daughters. When not spending time with my children, writing, teaching, or promoting my works, I speak to troubled children through the Straight Ahead Program and host a Comedy Benefit each year for A Wish Come True, Inc.  Visit: www.StevenManchester.com TRB: Tell us about your new book, Twelve Months .   SM: Don DiMarco has a very good life – a family he loves, a comfortable lifestyle, passions and interests that keep him amused. He also thought he had time, but that turned out not to be the case. Faced with news that might have immediately felled most, Don now wonders if he has time enough. Time enough to show his wife the romance he didn’t always lavish on her. Time enough to live out his most ambitious fantasies. ...

Hey Everyone! For today's Music Tuesday, I don't believe I've used this one yet...but this one is a great song!! Lights by Ellie Goulding... Love it!! :) Happy Tuesday! The Romance Bookie :)

Happy Sunday Everyone!! It's time for another IMM for me!! It's already been a month!! Jeez lol, time flies!! In My Mailbox was originally started by The Story Siren and it's where anyone can participate and let everyone know what they got in books, and other book related things, throughout a given time.  Anyone with a blog can join in, and you can post once a week, once a month, or whenever you choose to. Remember everyone, this is a MONTHLY IMM, not weekly!! Wow! I got SO many books this month!! Seriously!  And they were pretty much all hard copies! Which is awesome!! I even got a SUPER SPECIAL package from MEG Cabot!! So I'll be sharing the content of that! PLUS some AWESOME signed copies!!!! So excited to share with you all! So here goes:  Hard Copies first!! From Author/Publisher for Review: The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner (received from Simon & Schuster (Atria Books) for review) Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumwa...

In Jessica Brody's 52 Reasons to Hate my Father the readers get to know Lexington Larrabee is your stereotypical spoiled rich girl.     After crashing her brand new Mercedes, Lexie's father is fed up.  And he finds 52 jobs for Lexie to make up for it. ...in fact if she doesn't do those 52 reasons, spread out throughout an entire year, then Lex will lose her $25 million trust fund, that she was supposed to receive on her eighteenth birthday.     Well, Lex is 18, but no trust fund in sight...so the works begins...along with a liaison (aka Babysitter) named Luke, who happened to be the most uptight 20 year old that Lex has ever met! Job after job...Lex is not seeing the lesson her father is trying to instill in her...until a series of events makes her open her eyes. Her father is never around.  He hasn't been since Lex lost her mother when she was five.  Since then, his father has been working, working, and just more working....

Still on My Mind is a weekly meme, featured on Thursday, started by Haley over at Ya-Aholic , where you discuss a book you've either recently read, or read over the past few years, that's still on your mind. This weeks Still On My Mind is a bit more special! Why? Well, I'll be hosting an US/CANADA giveaway to go with it!! On Tuesday (August 14th) Jamie McGuire's best selling book Beautiful Disaster was released via Atria books (an ADULT publisher through Simon and Schuster!)!  I actually read Beautiful Disaster last year, when it was still an Indy book, and absolutely LOVED it!! I know a lot of controversy has been going on around this book, but let me just get one thing straight...this is NOT A YA BOOK!!!  It's an adult book!  I'd say between the ages of 17-30! Anyway here's the  Goodreads description: The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her ward...

A few weeks ago, Where We Belong by Emily Giffin was released.  And Target, beautiful lovely Target, was offering signed copies during the first week! So I went right out and bought mine! :) I picked it up a few days ago, and just began reading.  I could not put this book down! Before I continue, let me tell you a bit about it... Where We Belong is the story of Marian and Kirby...a not so normal mother-daughter relationship. Marian gave birth to Kirby eighteen years ago, at the age of eighteen, and gave her up for adoption.  NO ONE knew, except her mother.  Not even her father, and not even Kirby's birth father. Eighteen years later, thirty-six years Marian is a successful television show producer, writing scripts for a hot drama on TV, with the picture perfect boyfriend of two years, who also happens to be her very wealthy boss. Kirby is eighteen, living with her parents and sister, and overhears her parents one night discussing her.  She knows ...

Set to be released on the 28th of August, Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett deals with everyday issues with almost every teenage girl out there in the world. It's about Rose Zarreli, a freshman, starting high school with the death of her father hanging over her.  Teachers treat her differently, because they feel bad for her, her best friend is changing and only has one thing on her mind...sex.  Is Rose ready to deal with that?  She's not so sure. That's when Jamie comes into the picture. Over her entire freshman year, Rose deals with heartache of friendship, change, and figuring out what certain things mean with a guy. Is Jamie different than those other sex-seeking high school boys?  And why is Regina (the evil cheerleader) bullying her about it? Oh wait, maybe because Jamie is actually still together with Regina, but things get seriously complicated, when threats are thrown out, bullying increases, and Rose is left alone because her supposed ...

Today's Music Tuesday features 2 songs!! I just didn't feel like posting one last week, sorry, there were too many posts already, and I had the hardest time typing with a bad arm.  Well, anyway my arm is doing MUCH better! Very glad for that! Anyway...so as some of you may already know, I am quite the Robert Pattinson fan.  I love Twilight (not just for the book (LOVE the books!!), but also the movies!, btw, he was also FABULOUS in Remember Me !!) So in honor of Robert...I hope he's doing well...I know I would love to help him with his broken heart...;)... Here's Robert's song from Twilight with the added bonus of being able to look to his beautiful face :) And now for Music #33!! Yesterday, was an exciting day in that Taylor Swift finally announced when her new album is coming out!!!! PLUS during the live chat, which I happened to have tuned in to, she also debuted her new single from the new album, which will be released on October 21st, and i...

Happy Sunday everyone!! This is my recap for the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon hosted Jude @In Between & Jen @Some Like It Paranormal ! During the Read-a-Thon I was able to read ALL of the books I was hoping to, which makes me very happy!!  :)     and Here are my reviews: Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy by Leslie Langtry Fifty Shades Freed by EL James And now to the challenges I made posts for (I tried participating in as many as I could!): Summer Cover Scavenger Hunt   HOTTER than Summer Boys Challenge   Summer Vacation Challenge   Cover Love Challenge   Now before I leave, I want to mention this is your last chance to enter my Young Adult Giveaway! GO HERE: FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN ARC OF JERSEY ANGEL !!!!! The Romance Bookie :)

This is my fourth and most likely final book in the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon hosted Jude @In Between & Jen @Some Like It Paranormal . Tomorrow I will be writing a short wrap-up post to recap all I read for this super fun Read-a-Thon! ***WARNING!!!! MATURE CONTENT & MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM PREVIOUS NOVELS IN THE SERIES!!!*** For my fourth book I read EL James Fifty Shades Freed (the 3rd, and as far as I know, the final, book in the Fifty Shades Trilogy). For a recap of the first two books in the series, please go Here for Fifty Shades of Grey and Here for Fifty Shades Darker . Here's a great description from Goodreads , that pretty much brings all the books together: When unworldly student Ana Steele first encountered the driven, damaged young entrepreneur Christian Grey, it sparked a sensual affair that changed both their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and ultimately repelled by Christian's singular sexual tastes, Ana demanded a d...