The Romance Bookie

Hey! Wow, two books finished in two days!  It's amazing what you can do when you have no internet to distract you!  Seriously! I honestly, thought I was just going to get this one started, and finishing it after YA'll West! From Goodreads: It's 2002, a year after 9/11.  It's an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be.  She's tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments --even the physical violence -- she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day.  So she's built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her.  Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James.  He's the first person in forever who really seems to want to ge...

Hey Everyone! Finished another audiobook on my way to work!  This time it was Wonder  by RJ Palacio. I have been seeing Wonder  on store shelves for years now.  It caught my eye after a while, because I was just constantly seeing it everywhere! It's been on my radar for a while now.  I used to work at an elementary school, and one of the fifth grade teachers, read this book out loud to her class, so made me gain even more interest. It turns out this book has been popular for good reason! From Goodreads : I won't describe what I look like.  Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school.  Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid -- but his new classmates can't get past Auggie's extraordinary face.  WONDER, now a #1 New York Times Bestseller and included on ...

Hello Everyone! Please excuse the absence right now...I'm moving!!! :)  So to say things are a little crazy is an understatement... :) Anyway, I've had it, and I'm done keeping my mouth shut! I want to apologize to a certain author, so I have decided to write her a letter here on The Romance Bookie, to show her that not all of us in the book world are like the people who treated her so poorly in the last couple of days. Dear Ericka L. James, I want to apologize to you, and tell you I am so sorry for the way you have been treated in the last days, and even over the past couple of years by some people in this world.   While I know you are strong, I know it can also be tough, to just hear nothing but negativity from the world, who don't appreciate what you do; I want you to know, there are way more people in the world who DO appreciate what you and so many of our favorite authors do for a living. Not only are you a successful published author, but you are one...

Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous Mother's out there in the world!! I know my brother and I are trying everything today to spoil our mom! :) I've been a fan of Jamie McGuire's since I read Beautiful Disaster in October of 2011, when it was actually still a self-published novel!  I just absolutely devoured that book!! So when I found out Jamie McGuire was publishing a new novella series, in the contemporary world, I knew I had to read it! Happenstance  by Jamie McGuire is the first of three in this new novella series, which hit online stores Friday (May 9th, 2014)! From Goodreads : Such a gorgeous cover! #1 New York Times Bestseller Jamie McGuire returns to self-publishing with this page-turning YA account of Erin Easter, one of three Erins in the small senior class of rural Blackwell High School who not only share a first name, but also their birthday. Erin Easter, raised by a neglectful single mom, keeps to herself and admires Weston Gates from afar...

Hey Everyone! So I want to be honest here and say there haven't been all that many vampire books that I've read.  Back in 2008 and 2009 when Twilight was all the craze, and everyone was devouring every single vampire they could get their hands on; I was actually just reading, reading, and reading whatever the heck I wanted! It varied from anything from about vampires, to someone getting magic powers, to The Princess Diaries ! In fact, besides The Twilight Saga , there hasn't really been another vampire series, besides Cassandra's Clare's novels, but they don't really 100% focus around vampires; that I've enjoyed.  But now there is another one that I can add to the list! My review of Vampire Academy , Book 1 in the series by Richelle Mead! From Goodreads : St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampi...

Hey Everyone!! So it's been a while! In fact this is sadly my first post for 2014! I really hope everyone had a great New Years, I know I did!  The reason I've been incognito since the start of 2014 is because I actually went on vacation with my boyfriend, we went to Florida for two weeks, and just got back on Saturday, so things have been pretty busy...but in a good way :). So yes I went to DisneyWorld, and....THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!!!! It was AWESOME!  We had each a Butterbeer, a pumpkin juice, and a Cauldron Cake! Then we had lunch at The Three Broomsticks! Let's just say I was totally fan-girling it all day! :) It was amazing! Both Disney World and Harry Potter were an amazing experience that I get to check off my bucket list! :) So now...to my first review of 2014!! I read Eleanor & Park  by Rainbow Rowell From Goodreads : Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-cro...

Hey Everyone! Week 7 has come and gone for Meg-A Readers and now it's time for that recap!! :) But first it's time for my weekly Meg Cabot themed tidbit! :) This week I've got a review of Meg's How to Be Popular , which I started during the Meg-A Readers Read-A-Thon, but unfortunately was unable to finish in time, just because this summer has been CRAZY!! Anyway... From  Goodreads : Do you want to be popular? Everyone wants to be popular or at least, Stephanie Landry does. Steph's been the least popular girl in her class since a certain cherry Super Big Gulp catastrophe five years earlier. Does being popular matter? It matters very much to Steph. That's why this year, she has a plan to get in with the It Crowd in no time flat. She's got a secret weapon: an old book called what else? "How to Be Popular." What does it take to be popular? All Steph has to do is follow the instructions in The Book, and soon she'll be partying wit...

The List is one of those books that I have been looking forward to reading since its release last April (2012).  I almost traded it with someone a couple of weeks ago, but that ended up not working out.  So when I went to the library last week, and found it in the Teen Section, I was excited and checked it out without even thinking about it. Let me just start by saying that for the fact this book has been on my to-be-read list since last April, I was disappointed. From Goodreads :   An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them. It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up. This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see oursel...

Back in the Fall of 2011, while I was taking first Early Child Development Class we were given an assignment...pick a movie from a list and discuss it.  Among that list was Speak . I'm going to be honest here...I had honestly never heard of the book before, let alone a movie!  But when I saw it featured Kristen Stewart (the star of one of my favorite book movie adaptations) I knew it was the movie I wanted to see. And dang, let me just say how GLAD I am that I did! It was almost a year later, when in July I was talking to Kody Keplinger (the author of The DUFF ) when she mentioned she LOVED this book called Speak .  At the time, I honestly hadn't been thinking about the movie, but after the video chat I went on Goodreads and looked it up and that was when I found out! As soon as I knew Speak (the movie) was based on a book, I KNEW I had to read that book! A few weeks ago I found Speak (the book) sitting on one of my friend's bookshelves, and pretty much hijacked...

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've decided to pick a book in honor of October's Bully Prevention Month.   I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, last year ( Review HERE ), and since then I just have not been able to get it out of my head. It was one of the most beautiful, devastating novels I have ever read. Goodreads Description:   Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Thro...

High school... Mixed emotions most likely right?? If you haven't gone through it yet, than you most likely have no idea what I'm talking about...but if you have...you should know. Personally, I hated it.  I thought it was a terrible time in my life.  Friends turned on friends, rumors were spread, people judged me when they didn't know me, because of what one person told them about me.  It just wasn't my thing. The one thing I will say I got out of the whole social experience of high school is that I became a very independent person out of it.  I learned to fend for myself, I learned to enjoy being by myself, and learned about the loveliness that are books. (For more on my High school experience, you can visit MY post HERE !) Populazzi by Elise Allen takes the hierarchy of high school to the extreme...sometimes, I'm being honest here, I thought a little too much to the extreme. Description from Goodreads : Cara has never been one of those girls: ...

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 ...

I don't really know how to start this entry, but I guess to start it off I am just going to say that Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a story that will probably stick with me for a long time.  I know I've said that before, but if you've ever read this book, you will understand why I said that. Like a lot of others in the world, who have lost a loved one to suicide, I could relate to this story.  This year has been extremely tough for my family and I, we lost three dogs (our oldest who we'd had since 1998, our one girl in the mix who was 6, and a puppy that we'd only had for a couple of weeks and who'd died of intestinal complications)  (Let me just explain, that our dogs means the world to us, they are our babies, we love them all equally, and consider them to be family; so you can just imagine how tough it was when we went from having a little pack of 5 to only 2) and we lost my grandmother this year. No matter what age a loved one dies at, I don't ...