Book Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Title: Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

Series: Just One Day #1

Genre: Contemporary YA

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Release date: January 8, 2013

Amazon | Goodreads

Challenge: YA Contemporary Challenge

Source: Bought

Summary: When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Waiting on Wednesday (23): Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I love it because it is basically a squee-fest where book lovers can choose one book that they are DYING to get their hands on. Check it out!

Dirty Little Secret

by Jennifer Echols

Amazon | Goodreads

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

SHUT UP, FIDDLER. I can’t even deal with the fact that Jennifer Echols is taking on music right now. She’s gotten me to read about cops (DUH love them), swimmers, horses, pilots, and now musicians. Is there anyone out there who thinks she’s not going to knock DIRTY LITTLE SECRET one out of the park, too? And I’m loving that this has a sister vibe going on, too. I really enjoy reading about siblings, especially when there’s drama. 

Honestly, though, let’s just cut to the chase: Sam. First of all, he’s in a band. Second of all, he’s the guitar player. Third of all, he lives in Nashville, which is one of those cities that I would LOVE to go to. I’m swooning over the little bits we get of him in just the two sentences up there in the synopsis. I can’t even IMAGINE how swoony he’s going to be in DIRTY LITLE SECRET. Am I the only Nashville watcher who is getting Gunnar and Scarlett feels from this synopsis??? AHHH YAY!! Love Jennifer Echols so much!

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET is coming out July 16, 2013 from MTV Books.

Top Ten Tuesday (60)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Settings I’d Like to See More of

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!

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Book Review: The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell

Title: The Cadet of Tildor

Author: Alex Lidell

Genre: Fantasy YA

Amazon | Goodreads

Publisher: Dial

Release date: January 10. 2013

Challenge: DAC

Source: NetGalley

Summary: There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown’s inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

Book Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Title: The False Prince

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1

Genre: Fantasy YA

Amazon | Goodreads

Publisher: Scholastic

Release date: April 1, 2012

Challenge: TBR Challenge

Summary: In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.