Search Results for:

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Stacking the Shelves (80) & Christmas Hiatus

Posted by • 30 Comments

XpressoStS
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.


I can’t believe Christmas is here eeek! I love this time of year! I hope everyone has a wonderful week, a great holiday, and make sure to stuff your faces too! Just a note that Xpresso Reads is going on a short hiatus until after the holidays. I want to enjoy time with family instead of worrying about posts and blogging. We also all need a breather once in a while, ya know. I do, however, have a couple of holiday giveaway posts pre-scheduled to go up this week so you can still expect a bit of life on this site. I will be back next week, just before the new year, with some fun posts! I will still, of course, be all over Twitter until then 🙂

THIS WEEK’S BOOK HAUL:
(Click on covers for Goodreads)

I received for review:
IMM1 IMM2 IMM3
IMM4 IMM5 IMM6

*Thanks to Harlequin Teen, Random House Children’s Books, and St. Martin’s Press for these pretties!*

—

Have a fantastic holiday week, muffins!
See you all next week!
XOXO

Fresh Batch (New Releases December 22nd – 28th)

Fresh Batch (New Releases December 22nd – 28th)

Posted by on 12/21/2013 • 7 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Control Lydia Kang Series: Control #1 Publication date: December 26th 2013by Dial Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Purchase

An un-putdownable thriller for fans of Uglies

When a crash kills their father and leaves them orphaned, Zel knows she needs to protect her sister, Dyl. But before Zel has a plan, Dyl is taken by strangers using bizarre sensory weapons, and Zel finds herself in a safe house for teens who aren’t like any she’s ever seen before—teens who shouldn’t even exist. Using broken-down technology, her new friends’ peculiar gifts, and her own grit, Zel must find a way to get her sister back…

Continue Reading »

Review: Salt by Danielle Ellison

Review: Salt by Danielle Ellison

Posted by on 12/20/2013 • 25 Comments

I love witch stories. But this was not one of them. Penelope is a witch without powers – they were stolen from her and now she’s dead set on hunting the demon who stole them. This sounds like it could be a fun, action packed novel, except all we have here is a girl who whines a lot and spends most of the book being boring and talking herself out of kissing a guy who apparently annoys her.

That is the gist of it. Exams, simulations, graduation, research, more research, coffee dates, research; some very thrilling stuff in here… There weren’t even interesting characters to make up for it. The side characters all blended together, honestly. I can’t say I even care to discuss any of them in this series….

Continue Reading »

Book Girls Don’t Cry: My Holiday in Books

Book Girls Don’t Cry: My Holiday in Books

Posted by on 12/19/2013 • 23 Comments

Book Girls Don’t Cry is a feature where we will discuss/vent/advise on a bookish topic. This feature is hosted by myself along with these pretty ladies:

 

My Holiday in Books!

The holidays are here (holy crap, right?) – how do you usually spend yours? We have a huge family gathering on Christmas eve where we usually do fun gift exchange games and eat a lot chocolate and other junk food- catching up with family I don’t see often is the best, though. Then Christmas itself is bound to be a lot of fun with my 3 and a half year old in tow. He’s already super excited and this is the fist year that he sort of “gets” it before it’s here. Then it’s just a lot more food,…

Continue Reading »

Sneak Peek + Giveaway: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Sneak Peek + Giveaway: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Posted by on 12/18/2013 • 14 Comments

I’m part of the Heartbeat blitz tour where we’re going around and celebrating the upcoming release of Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott! If you haven’t heard about this book before here’s your chance, and you can also win an ARC of this pretty! I’ve been excited to read this myself ever since I met the author at BEA (which was awesome) and heard her talk about her book 🙂 Watch for my review after the holidays!

“An intense examination of a family coping with grief, this absorbing character study easily keeps pages turning.”

— Kirkus on Heartbeat

Heartbeat Sneak Peek

“Hey,” Olivia says, and I know it’s her because I would know her voice anywhere. We’ve been friends since fifth grade, and we’ve…

Continue Reading »

Review: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Review: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Posted by on 12/17/2013 • 27 Comments

-This novel was listened to via audiobook-

This is one series I have been meaning to try out for so long! Like usual, it will likely take me 2 or 3 books to fall in love with it. As far as urban fantasies go it’s a really decent read. Great action, an awesome protagonist, a steamy romance. Overall it’s your average story: A protagonist with a unique power and/or advantage, gets trained to be better at what she does, and starts on an action-packed journey that’s meant to have a lot of life or death moments and risky situations.

Even though I’ve read plenty of Urban Fantasies, my list still doesn’t trump dedicated fans of the genre. Still, I’ve read my fair share, and while this one might not have…

Continue Reading »

Review: Addicted to You by Becca Ritchie and Krista Ritchie

Review: Addicted to You by Becca Ritchie and Krista Ritchie

Posted by on 12/16/2013 • 35 Comments

Some might think a book about a sex addict is simply an excuse to write a “New Adult Erotica” but it’s not like that at all. These are people who are addicted to the point of self destruction, and what could have easily been a depth-less sex-oriented read becomes a true eye opener into a very tricky subject.

I’d heard of sex addiction before, but I never really thought about how intense and all empowering the addiction could be. You only need to do a quick Google search to realize it’s an addiction that is under quite the debate. Some experts even say it’s a myth. This novel, however, makes a convincing argument for it. One way it does this, and it does it brilliantly, is by creating a…

Continue Reading »

Stacking the Shelves (79)

Stacking the Shelves (79)

Posted by on 12/15/2013 • 29 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. Can you believe there’s only 10 days before Christmas? Eep! And after this week I have 2 weeks vacation where I don’t have to check my email ONCE! Woot! And then it will be 2014! Talking about 2014 – who’s going to BEA? I’ll be attending again this year and we just booked our hotel (so exciting!) I hope I get to meet even more bloggy friends this year! 🙂

THIS WEEK’S BOOK HAUL: (Click on covers and links below picture for Goodreads)

I received for review:

*Thanks to Grand Central Publishing, Entangled Teen, Sourcebooks Fire, and…

Continue Reading »