"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

The Host -
Stephanie Meyer

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Synopsis: Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

Release Date: May 2008

Read Date: January 2010

What I Thought: Sure, Twilight was big, but The Host is something else entirely, and I absolutely love this book. Aliens, hot boys, attempted murder - this book has it all. I just couldn't put it down!

Fun Fact: Meyer has said that she is working on additional novels. The film adaptation was released in March 2013.

Quotes:

“It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what you say. It's not how you look in that body, but the thing you do with it. You are beautiful.” 

- - -

“I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian. And that will never change, no matter what I might become.” 

- - - 

“Perhaps there could be no joy on this planet without an equal weight of pain to balance it out on some unknown scale.” 

Rating:

5 Bookstacks

"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

Bad Girls Don't Die -
Katie Alender

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Synopsis: Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude. When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening--to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

Release Date: April 2009

Read Date: December 2010

What I Thought: Ghosts and Possessions really freak me out, but this was a wonderful story that kept my attention the whole way through. Plus, Katie Alender has an amazing writing style.

Fun Fact: Originally published in 2009, Bad Girls Don’t Die was selected for the Tayshas Reading List of the Texas Library Association, named to the New York Public Library’s 2010 Stuff for the Teen Age list, and is available through Scholastic book clubs. In 2013 it was awarded second place in the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards. - Taken from katiealender.com

Quotes:

“That's the pathetic thing about high school. Everyone tries so hard to be something they aren't. It's gotten so I don't know who I am, so how can I even try to be who I am, much less who I'm not?
My problem is that I don't even fit in with the misfits.
I don't fit anywhere.” 

- - -

“Just say something real. Everyone just always tries so hard, and it all comes out the same. I just want someone to say something real.” 

- - - 

“I can't help it, Alexis," he said "I want to make you think too much...and then I want to hear the things you've been thinking too much.” 

Rating:

4 Bookstacks

"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

Beastly -
Alex Flinn

Publisher: Harper Teen

Synopsis: I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright--a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever--ruined--unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Release Date: October 2007

Read Date: April 2011

What I Thought: I love fairy-tale retellings so I had high standards from the start. Alex Flinn brings the Beauty and The Beast story to life in modern settings and I absolutely loved it. Definitely one I would read again and again!

Fun Fact: The movie adaptation was critically panned, but it caused Beastly to jump into the USA Today Bestseller List and the New York Times Bestseller list where it stayed for several months.

Quotes:

“Just because something is beautiful doesn´t mean it´s good.” 

- - -

“Every girl pretends she is a princess at one point, no matter how little her life is like that.” 

- - - 

“Maybe we judge people too much by their looks because it's easier than seeing what's really important.” 

Rating:

4 Bookstacks

"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

Thirteen Reasons Why -
Jay Asher

Publisher: Razorbill

Synopsis: 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.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Release Date: October 2007

Read Date: September 2010

What I Thought: Jay Asher is such an amazing writer as he proves in this novel. I loved the fact that we got the dual narrative between Clay and Hannah and got to experience everything that lead to Hannah's suicide.
It's a fast read, but it's a story that will stay with you forever.

The Good: This story is just so heart-wrenching and eye opening!

The Bad:  It wasn't completely what I expected.

Fun Fact: Asher has won eight different awards for Thirteen Reasons Why. Universal studios has the film rights and Selena Gomez was cast to play Hannah Baker.

Quotes:

“You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.” 
- - -

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.” 

- - - 

“If my love were an ocean,
there would be no more land.
If my love were a desert,
you would see only sand.
If my love were a star-
late at night, only light.
And if my love could grow wings,
I'd be soaring in flight.” 

Rating:

5 Bookstacks

"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

Halo -
Alexandra Adornetto

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Synopsis: Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels, Ivy, Bethany and Gabriel are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings. 

But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls for the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? 

Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth. 

The angels and Xavier must work together to overcome the dark forces - but will Beth survive the battle? 

Release Date: August 2010

Read Date: July 2011

What I Thought: For a book written by a girl so young, I loved it! This was one of the first angels books I read and it really got me addicted to them! It's totally a bit cheesy and even a bit  predicable, but you really can't help love it anyway!

Fun Fact: Alexandra Adornetto was only 18 years old when Halo was released, and was only 15 when her first book, The Shadow Thief, was released!

Quotes:

“A man in love can do extraordinary things, I don’t care if you’re an angel, you’re my angel, and I won’t let you go.” 

- - -

“I thought you were gone forever, I thought you’d walked away from everything, because I failed, because I destroyed the only thing that ever mattered to me. I waited for you to come, but you didn’t.” 

- - - 

“That was one of the saddest things about people--their most important thoughts and feelings often went unspoken and barely understood.” 

Rating:

5 Bookstacks

"Blast from the Past" is my personal feature - a post in which I talk about a book I read more than a year or so ago! Today I am featuring...

If I Stay -
Gayle Forman

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Synopsis: On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

Release Date: April 2009

Read Date: October 2010

What I Thought: This was my first ever Gayle Forman novel, and my love for her writing was instantaneous! Gayle is super talented and If I Stay was a heart-breakingly beautiful novel! If you haven't read this one, I seriously suggest you do!

The Good: This book made me cry like a baby, and truly touched my heart.

The Bad:  Ummm, I'm not sure if there even is any?!

Fun Fact: A film version of the novel is in works with Summit Entertainment. In January 2013, Chloe Grace Moretz was chosen to play Mia.

Quotes:

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.” 

- - -

“I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard.” 

- - - 

“Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal” 

Rating:

4 Bookstacks