Top 10 Tuesday #1

(This is my first Top 10 Tuesday!) Check out all the info here at The Broke and The Bookish's blog.
January 1st: Top 10 Books I Resolve to Read in 2013
All of the books I choose for this list have been on my TBR pile for over a year so it's about time that I tackle them sometime in the next 12 months.

1. Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie (just in time to read the final installment)


2. The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (also just in time to read the final installment which will be out on paperback soon)


3. The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa (I've heard great things about them and I can't wait to start reading)


4. The Gone series by Michael Grant (I own the first two Gone, and Hunger, and I desperately need to buy the rest of them)


5. Monster High series by Lisi Harrison (I own the first one and, again, desperately need to buy the rest of them because I love all of Lisi Harrison's work)


6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Can't wait to read this because I've heard so many wonderful things about it)


7. A Million Suns by Beth Revis (Just in time to buy the next installment Shades of Earth which comes out this month!)


8. Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (There is three books in this whole series, but I want to see how I like this first one before I go buy the next two)


9. The Year I Turned 16 Omnibus by Diane Schwemm (Still need to read this even though I'm not 16 anymore...)


10. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Been waiting forever to read this and the rest of the series)


If you want leave a link to your Top 10 in the comments and I'll come check it out!
See you soon!
Paige

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Random Thoughts #5: 2012 Year in Review

Well it's been a great year! A lot has changed and I'm so thankful to everyone who has followed, or even glanced at my blog once. I never thought I'd get so many books to review or even a single follower. So, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and looked at my blog I really appreciate it. Without you  guys there is no me!
I've come across some great books this year, WAY too many to put in a single list, but I will do my Top 12 books of 2012! This was an extremely hard list to put together and it actually took a lot of deliberation and took me a few days to finally decide on which were my favorites. Some of these books were not released in 2012, but I still read them this year. So, here is my final list:

1. Over You by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Check out my review here!

2. Easy by Tammara Webber


3. Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan James

Check out my review here!

4. (I'm sort of cheating on this one, it's actually a series of three books) Life As We Knew It, The Dead and the Gone, and This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It review here!
The Dead and the Gone review here!
This World We Live In review here!

5. Casey Barnes Eponymous by E. A. Rigg

Check out my review here!

6. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulburg

Check out my review here!

7. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Check out my review here!

8. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Check out my review here!

9. Animal Farm by George Orwell

Check out my review here!

10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey


11. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

Check out my review here!

12. To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker

Check out my review here!

And some close one's that almost made the list include

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon

Check out my review here!

Nocturne by Syrie James


Fallen by Lauren Kate

Check out my review here!

And the biggest disappoint for me that I read in 2012 was

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Check out my review here!

Again, thank you all for such a wonderful year and I can't wait to get back to doing reviews for you guys. Here's to a wonderful New Year.
See you soon,
Paige

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November Book Haul

Sorry this is so late! I didn't get any books in October, so I got a few more than I normally would in November. Here's what I got:

Tan Lines by Katherine Applegate (Paperbackswap.com)


Spring Break by Katherine Applegate (Paperbackswap.com)


The D.U.F.F. by Kody Keplinger (Paperbackswap.com)


Envy (The Luxe #3) by Anna Godbersen (Paperbackswap.com)


The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (Paperbackswap.com)


It Had To Be You: The Gossip Girl Prequel by Cecily von Ziegesar (Paperbackswap.com)


City of Angels (Hollywood Royalty #3) by Zoey Dean (Paperbackswap.com)


Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Target, Black Friday!)


Divergent by Veronica Roth (Target, Black Friday!)
 

Elixir by Hilary Duff (Amazon.com, Cyber Monday!)


Devoted (Elixir #2) by Hilary Duff (Amazon.com, Cyber Monday!)


Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (Amazon.com, Cyber Monday!)


Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin (Amazon.com, Cyber Monday!)

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 141
I actually didn't read this book, I listened to it on audio book and it was one of the first books in a really long time that I've listened to and it was great! The way the reader did a different voice for the characters and added a more sombre theme to the story that gave a really great tone to the story that probably couldn't be achieved if I had read it myself.
The story itself was amazing. I had heard about how great this book was but wow, no one has really done it justice. Animal Farm shows the best example of communism within a fictioinal book that I've ever seen.
The story starts out with the animals on Manor Farm whom feel unhappy with the current conditions they are living in and feel that they are slaves to the men who run the farm, mainly Jones, the owner of the farm. So, one day one of the oldest pigs Old Major paints a picture of an ideal world where animals run the farm and are treated equally without human interference. A few days later when Old Major dies, the animals on the farm finally begin to rebel against the humans and when they succeed in expelling Jones and his men they decree Manor Farm as Animal Farm and set up commandments that state all animsals will be treated equally, will not act like humans, dress like humans, etc.
The pigs, mainly Snowball and Napolean, act as leaders and organziers on the farm and set up the commandments and tell the other animals what to do and organize the work on the farm. This is when the first signs of communism start to appear; all of the animals must work harder than the pigs, yet the pigs reap more of the benefits. The pigs also tell the other animals what do, and when the animals protest, they use brainwashing tactics to make sure the other animals do not uprise and do what they are told.
Wow, what a great novel. Honestly, one of the best books I've ever read (or listened to?) and I can't wait to read 1984 by George Orwell as well, because I've heard it's even better. No wonder this is a classic because it is really a great thought provoking book with tons of symbolism. I strongly encourage everyone to read this, it really makes you appreciate the democracy we live in, and how much freedom we really have (yes, it's ficitional, but the communism is what really goes on in parts of the world). Just something to think about.
See you soon!
Paige

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Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 505
I had really high hopes for this book and I REALLY wanted to like it, but it thoroughly disappointed me. I actually thought it was going to have more of a horror element (I mean look at that gorgeous, yet creepy, cover). However, it actually took on more of a...underdeveloped theme. Let's make a list of what was underdeveloped: the characters, the plot, the setting, the conversations between the characters, the back story...everything? 
I felt that the back story was described WAY too quickly and I barely understood who the main characters were. The main characters themselves were so infuriating and I couldn't connect with them at all. The plot could have been way scarier, or have more of a horror theme and the setting was so under described that 150 pages in, I still couldn't tell you where they lived or what their house looked like. 
I will admit that I tried my best to push through and make an attempt to finish this book but I could only go 150 pages before I finally called it quits. Normally I really try to finish a book even if it's pretty bad, but I just couldn't do it.
I may try again in the next few months, but trying to get out of a reading slump and this is the first thing you read? Not exactly a great idea. 
Anyways, sorry for the short review, still trying to get back into the swing of things.
See you soon!
Paige

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September Book Haul

Here's what I got last month!

For Review:
Sheltered by Debra Chapaton



Ask the Passengers by A. S. King


Purchased:
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare


Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne


Nocturne by Syrie James


Envy by Anna Godbersen


On Fire: A Teen Wolf Novel by Nancy Holder


(the following books were given to me by my mom. She wanted to get these off her bookshelves and passed them down to me)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Dickinson
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
The Duchess of Duke Street by Mollie Hardwick
Adam Bede by George Eliot
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
The Sixth Wife by Jean Plaidy
The Short Stories by Ernest Hemingway
Love for Lydia by H. E. Bates

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