Adventures in Reading: HMH Kids

Showing posts with label HMH Kids. Show all posts

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Stacking the Shelves #67

This feature is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Hi guys!

Finally, I'm getting back in the swing of blogging. I managed to keep things going this week by some miracle.

I wasn't going to add anything to my review pile, but then Harper decided to do a e-galley drop on Edelweiss. So of course all of my willpower went out the door. I probably could have resisted temptation, but I needed this. I needed more books.

I went to the library yesterday and grabbed more books. Again, not that I needed them, but I wanted them. Hoping one of them will end my reading slump.

Received for Review

-Edelweiss-

Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsca

Walk On Earth A Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) by Rae Carson

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Library

In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed
White Lines by Jennifer Banash
Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts

Hope you all have a great week!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #56

This feature is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

This week brought some great books into my life. After nearly a month, my box of books arrived from Amazon. The whole thing was very aggravating, complicated by having my wallet and credit card stolen right about the time I made the order. I picked up 4 NetGalley books and I received 2 books for review in the mail from Bloomsbury. I also picked up some library books that I'm very excited about.

Near the end of the week I got a package from my Secret Sister. It had some awesome dark chocolate treats inside as well as a book. It was a book I had enjoyed, but I wanted a finished copy. So I was stoked to get it from my Secret Sister. So thank you, whoever you are.

Let's see what I added to my shelves!

Bought

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell

Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2) by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss #3) by Stephanie Perkins

Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson

Received for Review

-NetGalley-

Echo Bridge by Kristen O'Toole
The Family by Marissa Kennerson

Ensnared (Splintered #3) by A.G. Howard (Sample)
The Melody of Light by M.L. Rice

-From the Publisher-

This Side of Home by Renee Watson
Soulprint by Megan Miranda

Library

Things I Can't Forget (Hundred Oaks #3) by Miranda Kenneally
Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn #2) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers
The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass 0.1-0.5) by Sarah J. Maas

Gifted

The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

Be sure to let me know if you've read any of these or if you are planning to. Also, leave your links to your haul posts & vlogs. Have a great week everyone!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #47

This feature is from Tynga's Reviews.

Have I mentioned how much I love my library? Oh man, they have some amazing YA books, which is awesome since I don't have enough money to buy books at the moment. I picked up 5 books at the library, including two books I was VERY excited about. I think I am going to stop putting holds on books so I can catch up on my reading.

Do you guys REALLY think I can keep that vow? Yeah, probably not.

Let's see what I added to my shelves this week.

Bought

Received for Review

-Edelweiss-

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

Won

Gifted

Signed bookmarks from author Christa Desir.

Borrowed From Library

Graduation Day (The Testing #3) by Joelle Charbonneau

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

To All The Boys I've Loved Before (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han

Vitro by Jessica Khoury

So definitely let me know if you are excited about any of these books or if you have already read them. You can even let me know which library book to start with if you want.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Review: Independent Study (The Testing #2) by Joelle Charbonneau

Book Title: Independent Study (The Testing #2)

Author: Joelle Charbonneau

Published Date: January 7th, 2014

Publisher: HMH Books For Young Readers

Genre: YA/Dystopian

Series: Book 2 in The Testing trilogy (My review for The Testing is here)

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the series debut The Testing, sixteen-year-old Cia Vale was chosen by the United Commonwealth government as one of the best and brightest graduates of all the colonies . . . a promising leader in the effort to revitalize postwar civilization. In Independent Study, Cia is a freshman at the University in Tosu City with her hometown sweetheart, Tomas—and though the government has tried to erase her memory of the brutal horrors of The Testing, Cia remembers. Her attempts to expose the ugly truth behind the government’s murderous programs put her—and her loved ones—in a world of danger. But the future of the Commonwealth depends on her.

Disclaimer: I got this book from ARCycling.

Review:

I really enjoyed the first book of the trilogy so I was excited to get my hands on a copy of the second book in the series. The excitement didn't last long though and I spent a good chunk of the book, bored out of my mind.

It wasn't realistic. Cia was supposedly able to handle 9 classes plus an internship and be able to run around campus and still manage to ace her assignments and do well in her internship? Please! I wanted to see her fail only because I wanted to see how she would handle that. Yet they don't show that. She goes through the entire book, at the top of her class and not getting caught when she sneaks around looking for answers. It was too convenient and unlike in The Testing, I really didn't like her. She had this I'm-better-than-anyone-else attitude which made me really annoyed and pissed off.

I still don't like Tomas and honestly I didn't really like anyone in this book outside of Raffe. I found the characters to be very bland and definitely underdeveloped. I was hoping for more character development and I didn't get that.The world-building was also lacking significantly and that made it very difficult for me to be able to visualize everything.The world-building was decent in the first book, but it definitely took a nosedive in the second book.

There was no action in it, which really sucks because in books in this genre, there's got to be some action in order for it to be good and compelling. Without action, this book was nothing more than a fictional political book.

This book suffered the infamous "Sophomore Slump" It was boring, uninteresting and it was a book that I could not wait to finish so I could put it behind me and move on to a better, more interesting book. This book will be getting 2 stars. I am not sure I'll read the final book in the trilogy.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #35

This feature is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

I'm back, everyone! You may have noticed that there was no Stacking the Shelves last Sunday. That was due to only having one book and I really didn't think it was necessary to have a post for only one book.

Thankfully, this week brought more books. I got a freebie off of Amazon (I probably should not have bought another book but oh well) A blogger friend by the name of Andi sent me two books. Thank you Andi. I also "won" a book from ARCycling, but it's not really winning in the typical sense, either way, I got it. Funny thing was, it was donated by my friend Stormy. I got a book from Edelweiss as well. Excited about this one, hoping it's as good as the cover makes it look. I also got a book from NetGalley this week.

Bought