Xpresso Reads

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Jenni’s Stacking the Shelves [May 11]

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Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring new additions to our bookshelves.

Hello! In the past two weeks my mailbox has been in credibly lonely but it did manage to score one goodie in the form of The Art of Getting Stared At by Laura Langston. When I saw this one in an email from Penguin Canada I thought it sounded right up my alley so a big thank you to them for sending it out to me!

Ebook Haul

I spent some gift cards that I had sitting on Amazon this week and showed my Kindle some love. I’m very excited to read all of these and thank you to HarperTeen for the eARCs that I scored from EW!

What have you added to your shelves lately?

Fresh Batch (New Releases May 11th – 17th)

Posted by Giselle on 05/10/2014 • 8 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Everything Leads to You Nina LaCour Publication date: May 15th 2014by Dutton Juvenile

Goodreads Purchase

A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava….

Review: My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal

Posted by on 05/09/2014 • 24 Comments

I’m beginning to think that YA murder mysteries just aren’t the thing for me. Movies filled with twists and turns and murder, yes please! But for some reason it just never feels like it is pulled off as well in book form. My Last Kiss is basically a murder mystery featuring stupid decisions and supercharged teen hormones that had me cringing at the explanation behind everything that happens.

We start the book off seeing MC Cassidy’s very first kiss that she shared on a bridge with the boy she liked Ethan. Once that chapter is over we are taken for a quick turn as we realize we are still Cassidy only she is no longer in her body and is a ghost trying to solve the case of her murder….

Review: Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Posted by Giselle on 05/08/2014 • 19 Comments

Peter Pan was my favourite cartoon as a child, I must have watched my video cassette (ha!) of it at least 40 times, so it’s no surprise that I was giddy about this book. While I had some qualms with it, insta-love for instance – with not one but two boy (ick) – the magical aspect of it had me delighted. It’s not the kind of read that captivates from the start, but rather a book that takes you by surprise as it grows into something completely magnetic.

Grieving from the loss of her brothers, Wendy goes on an adventure to try to find out what happened to them, convinced that they’re still alive, living a wild life of water and waves. Although the comparisons are few, along her journey…

The Break-Up Artist Blog Tour: Interview & Giveaway!

Posted by Giselle on 05/07/2014 • 22 Comments

Today we’ve got the mind behind The Break-Up artist on the blog for an interview where we learn a bit more about this fun novel, and then there are some fab prizes to win! Haven’t heard of The Break-Up Artist yet? Have a look:

Interview with Philip Siegel Let’s start by describing your book in a tweet (140 characters or less)

Girl runs business breaking up couples at her school.

This break-up artist premise is pretty intriguing, where the idea come from?

I had some friends who were in unhealthy relationships a few years back. People change when they get into relationship, and mostly it’s for the better, but not always. It’s a tricky situation, because you want to say something, but doing so can risk harming…

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Posted by on 05/06/2014 • 24 Comments

This one came to me highly recommended from a fellow contemporary lover. I am so happy that Bekka of Great Imaginations took the time to tell me all about this one because I had seen the original cover for The Truth About Alice and thought it was a historical novel so had completely written it off. I have to say that I am very happy they decided to change up the cover for the novel, this new one suits the subject matter and genre much better than the first one.

The thing that had me taken with The Truth About Alice from the very beginning is the way in which it’s told. We have multiple POVs telling us their viewpoint of all of the drama going on at Healy…

Review: Royally Lost by Angie Stanton

Posted by Giselle on 05/05/2014 • 21 Comments

Well so freaking adorable! While perusing reviews it seems like more than a few of my friends disliked this one, and I admit that it’s not perfect by any means so I get it, but it’s exactly the kind of fluffy fairy-tale-esque read I was in the mood for on a rainy weekend. It’s the type of romantic adventure that is both idealistic and exotic; perfect for fans of Jennifer E. Smith.

What I didn’t like: -Insta-love ruined some of its charm for me. It was unnecessary and did more harm than good on how I felt about the book. There was not even a built-up to it, suddenly they were just declaring their love. Well okay then!

-These kids are both 18 years old – legal adults –…

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves [May 4th]

Posted by Giselle on 05/04/2014 • 27 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books we got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week. Sooo is everyone ready for BEA!? I can’t believe we’re in May already! I feel like I was there just a couple of weeks ago but GAH! I’m so freaking excited to go back! Mostly I can’t wait to meet even more bloggers this year! I hope to see you all there! So yeah, this week my computer crapped itself and I was stuck on some dinosaur loaner, so I’m sorry for being a bit absent and slow to comment back and such this week! In books though it was quite the awesome week which brightened it up for sure! Have a look…