Monthly Archives:: September 2015

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Fresh Batch (September 13th – 19th)

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Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Dumplin’
Julie Murphy
Publication date: September 15th 2015
by Balzer + Bray

Goodreads Purchase

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.


Other releases this week:
* In no particular order *




Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas [Purchase]
The Marvels by Brian Selznick [Purchase]
The Fiery Trial (Tales from Shadowhunter Academy #8) by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan [Purchase]
Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W. Petty [Purchase]


Mirrored by Alex Flinn [Purchase]
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore [Purchase]
Drowning to Breathe (Bleeding Stars #2) by A.L. Jackson [Purchase]
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff [Purchase]


One by Sarah Crossan [Purchase]
The Shepherd’s Crown (Discworld #41) by Terry Pratchett [Purchase]
Movie Game by Michael Ebner [Purchase]
Sweet Madness by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie [Purchase]


The Scam (Fox and O’Hare #4) by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg [Purchase]
The Affiliate (Ascension #1) by K.A. Linde [Purchase]
The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich [Purchase]
The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen by Katherine Howe [Purchase]


The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co. #3) by Jonathan Stroud [Purchase]
Screwed by Kendall Ryan [Purchase]
Devoted in Death (In Death #41) by J.D. Robb [Purchase]
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson [Purchase]


The Drowning (Fjällbacka #6) by Camilla Läckberg [Purchase]
Dirty Promises (Dirty Angels #3) by Karina Halle
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales [Purchase]
Pushing the Limits by Brooke Cumberland [Purchase]


Fractured Suns (Broken Skies #2) by Theresa Kay
Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons #3) by Christina Lauren [Purchase]
Michael Vey 5: Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans [Purchase]
Queen of Always (Stolen Empire #3) by Sherry D. Ficklin [Purchase]


Maid of Wonder (Maids of Honor #3) by Jennifer McGowan [Purchase]
Untamed City (Untamed City 0.5, 1) by Melissa Marr [Purchase]
Breakaway by Kat Spears [Purchase]
Watch Your Back by Tracy Bilen [Purchase]


Temporary High (Running On Empty #2) by Colette Ballard [Purchase]
Imposter by Antony John [Purchase]


Anything catching your eye this week?

 

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Find previous Fresh Batch posts here!

Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Posted by on 09/10/2015 • 4 Comments

I love a good middle grade book filled with adventure and fun! This is a somewhat horror, but it’s not really all that scary. Of course, it’s for kids so that makes sense. The characters in this book were great, and I loved getting lost inside their adventure along with them. It’s such a great blend of fantasy, adventure, and great lessons. I think that is what really draws me to MG books. There is usually such a great lesson for kids thrown into all the fun and fantasy of reading the story. This one is a lot about family and I thought it was done so well. This book was published last year, but since I was invited to review the second book, I needed to read and review…

Review: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Review: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Posted by on 09/09/2015 • 5 Comments

“HEY, PARDNER. You don’t happen to have a dip there, wouldcha? Yer gonna be in fer a wild, wild ride, Western style.”

Did I say that right? Did I sound like a kick-ass cowboy, about to tell a story around a campfire? Yes? …No? Ah, well.

2015 is definitely the year where Western YA is taking the world by storm. I’ve already read 2 set in this era – one during the Californian Gold Rush (Walk on Earth a Stranger) and finally, this one, set a little bit after all the gold hooligans have come and gone. And to think there’s another one set with a Chinese heroine (Under the Never Sky), which I hear is pretty good, diverse, and character-driven (you bet I’ll be reading that one as soon…

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Posted by on 09/08/2015 • 9 Comments

It’s not often that I read a book in one day. Especially huge books like this monster. I just couldn’t put this one down though. It loved the fast pace of it, the heartbreaking story, and even the format it’s told in. I loved reading this story through instant messages, documents, and case files, along with other things as well. It was almost impossible to put down because I was so interested in what was happening, and was quickly attached to the characters. The main one being the AI. I loved getting to know it. While books have been written in documents and such things before, this one has so much more. I especially loved the pictures that are done in it as part of the story. They really help…

Fresh Batch (Sept 6th – 12th)

Fresh Batch (Sept 6th – 12th)

Posted by on 09/05/2015 • 2 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Fans of the Impossible Life Kate Scelsa Publication date: September 8th 2015by Balzer + Bray

Goodreads Purchase

A captivating and profound debut novel about complicated love and the friendships that have the power to transform you forever, perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully…

The Lost Girl (Fear Street Relaunch #3) by R.L. Stine

The Lost Girl (Fear Street Relaunch #3) by R.L. Stine

Posted by on 09/04/2015 • 4 Comments

As a kid I loved R.L Stine. I seriously would read his books over and over again. I had not yet gotten into any of the newer books he had written until now. I really do need to go back and read the first two books of this series, but this was fun and creepy. It’s wasn’t outright scary, but it does have a very subtle underlying feeling of doom throughout. I’m not a very easy person to scare, so it might be pretty scary to others, but I found it very enjoyable. The story was very interesting too, and I really liked how it all ended.

Michael is the MC in this. When Lizzy comes to town, he is instantly drawn to her, and his group of friends…