The synopsis: 

The synopsis: Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent.

My thoughts: So this book has consistently caught my eye since it started making the rounds last year and for some reason I never fully read through the synopsis.  I'd look at the cover and think it was one thing, but that the synopsis disproved that, so I'd put it back.  Then,  I read the reviews and realized that this is one of the most perfect, accurate covers in quite a long time.  So naturally, as soon as I realize this and rush to get it, it's sold out of all my neighborhood (and every neighborhood between in a 30 mile radius).  Sigh.
Christmas Eve, I found it and snatched it.  3 hours later?  I was done.  What a seriously amazing story/plot. This is what I hoped Pretty Little Liars could have been.  The suspense, the surprises, and the all around storyline were compelling, and there were messages and points in the novel that came through without sounding all preachy.  A good read on many different levels for many different reasons, this will be a book that I keep around for a long time.  The ending elicited a very loud, shocked gasp and a couple tears.  I bet it will do it again on the next read.

The synopsis:

Argh,  I've already slipped on at least half of my blog-related New Years Resolution (the timely reviewing aspect), BUT I have devoured wayyy too many books already this year, and couldn't resist leaving Target with just a few more yesterday.....

Purchased & received earlier in the week from Amazon:

Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances… a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been.
So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life…and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done.
It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last….

Being in a coma has helped to open Charlotte Grey’s eyes for the very first time . . .

As she hovers somewhere between life and death, Charlotte finally realizes what a complete mess she’s made of her time on Earth—including the five years she’s wasted on worthless, faithless James Kane. The afterlife should be paradise compared to that—except “heaven” seems to be nothing more than a big retirement home in the sky, with lots of bingo and bridge and absolutely no sign of Elvis, Princess Di, Kurt Cobain, or anyone else worth spending eternity with. Charlotte would rather return to Earth, thank you very much. But the only way she can get there is as a bona fide guardian angel . . . and the lost soul she’s assigned to is none other than the James Kane, who tore her heart out and stomped on it.

Still, Charlotte’s determined to use her second chance to really start living, Kane or not, and have some fun . . . for once in her afterlife.

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)

In August 2010, Wylie Overstreet published a satirical article called "If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses" on the website CoolMaterial.com. Within a month, it had received 3 million views and had been "liked" by 120,000 Facebook users.

In A WORLD HISTORY ACCORDING TO FACEBOOK, Overstreet expands this concept into a full-length history of the world, from its creation up through to the present day, as if Facebook had existed all along and Abraham Lincoln had written a status update about "taking the missus to the theater" on April 15, 1865 and Ben Franklin had done the same alerting his network that he′d signed the Declaration of Independence ("Bring it," replied John Adams). Filled with hundreds of real-life historical figures and thousands of not-at-all-real Facebook statuses, comments, and actions, and parodying Facebook users′ proclivity to over-share and use lazy jargon ("lol," "rofl," "fml," etc.), this is the definitive humor book for our generation.

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope everybody had as fantastic a year as Holly and I did this year!  While she hasn't had time to review as much, my adorable nephew Beckham is an excuse I will gladly accept, though I certainly miss receiving so many of her reviews and recommendations!


As for me,  I've found a whole new genre (or two) of books that I'm obsessed with this year, as I moved into home ownership, and having a place of my very own to decorate.  As a renter, I never got the nesting urge I have now, because it's only temporary (though I lived in mine for 5 years).  I wanted it to look nice, but I never felt the need to leave my mark on it.  Now?  I can't go to Lowes without picking several must have books (eye roll here).  I treated myself to these 4 recently as a pre-Christmas present.  Love love love the cottage style book and the common sense storage is uber helpful (moving into a stacked townhouse does mean I have much more space than I did in my apartment, but there is still finite space).

I hate doing negative reviews, but there were some books this year that I just tried and tried to love, but I couldn't do it.  I had to put them to the aside without even seeing our fight through.  It's not them, it's me.  I just didn't have the energy to give them my all. It's a shame, but maybe somebody read them and will tell me to ride it out, and I'll feel that the end result justified the means??



I also just went on a Barnes & Noble spree to welcome in the New Year, and picked up some of my much coveted wants this year to ring in 2012 with.  I was supposed to leave them be and work on the galleys I've received that need to be reviewed still (I know! I know!- but I just received A Partial History and Cinder, and I've only had Carry the One and Arcadia for about three weeks!).  Sadly, I couldn't wait to tear in to my BN swag, and I've already devoured Between, Drink Slay Love, and Until There Was You.  I had to grab Duff and Shut Out thanks to Jenny at Supernatural Snark, after having adored Catching Jordan.  I'm also super excited for Struck because - well, look at the cover.  I wish I needed an umbrella to shield myself from hearts falling all around me!


 Some of my favorite books of the year are to the right of this very sentence.  I tried to choose one from each genre, but I couldn't.  So, if you want a funny book that will probably have you guffawing embarrassingly loudly, do yourself a favor and grab Mindy Kaling's first book.  Just do it - I won't make you any promises or try to bribe you because it will surpass any recommendation I can give you.  She's that funny.
Hot men and demons more your thing?  Grab the first two of Darynda Jones Grim Reaper Charley series (hint:  not the real name of the series), First Grave on the Right and Second Grave on the Left.  I'm 98% sure Third Grave Straight Ahead is being released in mid January and not a moment too soon.  Seriously, I can't get enough of any.single.character.  Not one.  The plots and subplots are awesome, the humor is on point, the dialogue is sharp, witty and hilarious (no I don't think this is redundant), and the romance is pretty much guaranteed to up the heat in your own room while reading (but not in a smutty way).
The Best of the Rest - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Hourglass (the sequels should be worth the wait, but do not want the wait.) Catching Jordan and Anna and the French Kiss.  So good.


I tried a new (sort of) genre recently too, because the book has caught my eye several times at Target, and though I've never read anything of hers, the author has that name recognition cache going for her.  I'm not sure if I'll review the book, because it was enjoyable enough, and I did really like it, but I just don't know.  The book was I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg.

That's enough gibberish from me for now, wishing all of you nothing but great reads, and only the best of everything in 2012!

The synopsis:What did a paranormal investigation uncover at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the hotel built in 1903 that inspired Stephen King’s The Shining?
 
What is the chilling history behind the Rolling Hills Asylum in Batavia, New York?
 
What happened when a man was overcome by an evil entity as Jason and Grant surveyed his home?
 
How can a Connecticut woman seem to exist in two places at once?
 
In this hair-raising omnibus, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (T.A.P.S.), reveal the memorable and spine-tingling cases featured in their smash-hit collections, Ghost Hunting and Seeking Spirits. From their never-seen-on-television adventures as budding paranormal investigators to the behind-the-scenes accounts of heart-pounding supernatural encounters featured on their popular show, these fascinating and frightening real life tales will keep you up at night!

My thoughts:  I am obsessed with ghosts, so I was super excited to read this even though I've never watched Ghost Hunters.  I was somewhat disappointed when I read that they approach everything as it being untrue, until that can be disproven, but in the end, that made it even more enthralling when it was a case where there was no way that the events happening could be explained away.  Some of the stories was fantastic and had me wishing that the details weren't so sparse.

The synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Holly Mullen has felt lost and lonely ever since her boyfriend, Rob, died in a tragic accident. But she has no idea that as she goes about her days, Rob’s ghost is watching over her. He isn’t happy when he sees his best friend, Jason, trying to get close to Holly—but as a ghost, he can do nothing to stop it. As their uncertain new relationship progresses, the past comes back to haunt Holly and Jason. Her Alzheimer’s-stricken grandfather claims to be communicating with the ghost of Rob. Could the messages he has for Holly be real? And if so, how can the loved ones Rob left behind help his tortured soul make it to the other side?

My thoughts: I loved this book for a bunch of different reasons.  There's a lot of intensity in many, many different facets of Holly's life, starting with the fact that she's essentially the caregiver of her little sister, her mom, and now her grandfather.  And she's wrestling with coming to terms of the loss of her boyfriend, in an accident she was in with him, on both an immature - and mature - level.  The fact that it's also written from the perspective of Rob - which provided a completely different story than I've read before- and Jason, who was not only falling for Holly but was Rob's best friend and realizing that Rob was the glue that held a lot of things together, and dealing with the fallout of seeing things in a different light without Rob holding it together.  It could have been a great story from that alone, but adding in not only the grandfather, and then the grandfather and Rob's relationship?  One of the most unique, and best, stories of this year.

My thoughts:   So, there are so many reasons I grabbed this book, the first of which was that it was featured by Bravo Andy on WWHL (The Real Housewives are my crack, I make no apologies).  The author works on WWHL!  Second - the cover pops.  Everything about it.  Third - the title.  I mean, really.  And honestly?  The book was all kinds of hilarious from beginning to middle to almost near the end.  But the ending fell really flat for me.  I'm thinking hoping that there is a sequel because the ending pretty much lined one up, and this one had so.much.potential.

The synopsis:

But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise—she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever.

My thoughts: Nicholas Sparks (whose books are a guilty pleasure of mine) has nothing on DiLallo and Patterson.  I gobbled up this book in less than two hours.  Romance is a huge part, but the overwhelming theme is the testament of love and family, and what better way to tell that story without the fear of it being labeled cheesy/corny than to tell it at Christmas?  I'm not one to find these stories cheesy or corny, but rather endearing and enduring.  And as much buzz as Jason Wright's books have gotten for their message, I hope this story finds its way into the hands of the same buzzers.  As famous as Patterson is, his stories vary dramatically based on who his underwriter is.  And DiLallo certainly fleshed out an amazing, upbeat, funny tale that really embodies what Christmas is about.