Jenny Han....You Play Me Like a Fiddle

I'm looking to see if anyone out there has read or is reading Jenny Han's summer series...I don't think I have ever been pushed in so many different directions while reading. It isn't anything overly deep, but she just has a certain way of making the reader rock and roll.

Review to follow...

And yes, she does deserve this very random blog post. Just wow.

September To Be Read

TBR Pile for September

I didn?t really read much for the month of August because I was busy with the teaching jobs search. That being said, I am teaching now and that is what has taken up a lot of my time recently. I am lucky that the district that I currently work for practices SSR (Silent Structured Reading) everyday. This has helped me tremendously in the reading department and it really does help the students too. It is so fascinating to see what the students are reading. What do you guys think of the new phenomenon of having everyone in the school stop and read? I have 9th graders in my room at the time that occurs and it seems like 90 percent really enjoy this time. In any case, it is really interesting to see what books the students are carrying around and what they are into.

So, without further ado, here is my TBR pile for September. I failed royally at my
August to be read pile, so a lot of the books that were on my August list will be making a return onto the list for September.

Currently Reading: We'll Always Have Summer-Jenny Han

Nevermore- Kelly Creagh

Die For Me- Amy Plum

If I Stay- Gayle Forman

Perfect Chemistry- Simone Elkeles

Yep, that's it. Let's not forget I am full time teaching?

To Read List for August

I have seen a lot of bloggers starting to post what they are planning to read for the last couple of months and I decided that I wanted to follow suit. I realize that we are almost halfway through August, but I feel like this will be a good way for me to organize and prioritize what I want to read during this month. This will also hold me accountable and finally, mention more book titles that I want to get to. I am going to try to keep this list realistic, but I know that I will be adding way more books than I will get to.

Right now I am reading It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

I hope to get my hands on a copy of We'll Always Have Summer and read it while it is still summer...

Hereafter- Tara Hudson
Nevermore- Kelly Creagh
Divergent- Veronica Roth
Die For Me- Amy Plum
Delirium- Lauren Oliver
If I Stay- Gayle Forman

I also want to get to Sarra Manning's kiss series, but I don't thikn that will be happening for August. I will be lucky if I finish three more books this month.
French Kiss
Kiss and Make Up
Sealed With a Kiss

Review The Summer I Turned Pretty- Jenny Han

The Summer I Turned Pretty –Jenny Han

“Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.” ( Good Reads)

I have to start off by saying that I absolutely adored this book. This is a series that never would have touched. I guess I have to thank the ladies at ieatwords for making me interesting in reading this book. This is a book that I would never have picked up simply because I used to feel like the summer romance books were a dime a dozen. There are so many of them out there, and lets face it, I need more lead up and relationship time for a genuine romance to start up between my couple before the summer is over and the school year begins again. And I don’t want an ending where the summer obviously comes to a close and the couple decides that it was better to have love and lost than to never have loved at all…yeah, garbage. We also don’t want one of the people to randomly move to attend high school with the other person. Can we say creeper?

But this book is different because Jenny Han gets around that (at least for me) because Isabel (Belly), the female protagonist goes to the same beach house (Cousins) to stay with her mother’s best friend. The mother’s best friend, Susannah happens to have two sons named Conrad and Jeremiah. Right from the start of the novel it is made clear that Susannah wants Belly to fall in love and marry one of her sons. I am such a sucker for crap like that.

The only thing that got a little confusing was how the book was laid out. The chapters go back and forth between the actual summer and past summers from when she was younger. So, if you have to walk away for the book for any amount of time it’s difficult to tell if it is the present summer that she is recalling a memory from. The reason for this is because Belly does have these little annoying qualities (and thank God) that she is only starting to grow up from. For one, she is really insecure and has an awkward time because of how she is changing and maturing. Also, she has to fight the urge to not stick her tongue out at the boys or tattle on them. She was kept apart from when her brother, Steve, would hang out with Conrad and Jeremiah so where does she belong now? These little flashbacks do help get background information about the characters personalities and also help explain why summer is such a special time.

This book is the ultimate summer time book. It does encompass what a lot of people think about the summer months even if you don’t have a fancy beach house to spend the summer at. I think that a lot of people will be able to relate towards this book at the same time. It helps that Belly is a great character. Trust me, this isn’t just a book that deals with who some girl is going to date. It’s much more than that. Who didn’t have that that awkward time when you invited a friend with you on vacation and you just…wish you didn’t? Only me? Right. Anyway, this book is about a lot more than who will Belly chose to be with. I even get the feeling that she won’t be with either one by the end of the third book, but who knows. I loved Conrad and Jeremiah for different reasons and I also loved Cam. I love how it even captures those bittersweet feelings of things coming to an end towards the end of the novel.

I checked this book out from the library and cannot wait to get my hands on the next two because I want to read while were still in the summer months. Get your hands on a copy of this book now!

IMM (6)

This in my mailbox is a little late this week because I was out of town for the weekend. IMM is hosted by Kristi at the Story Siren. This is a weekly meme that I really enjoy because it highlights a lot of books that I am interested in reading, but don’t have the time to read and/or write a review for.

From hometown library:
Everafter- Tara Hudson

I have been waiting to get my hands on this book and my library in WI does not have it, so I got it while in MN while I was in town visiting my family. Yep, I am sneaky like that.

Purchased:

The Summer I Turned Pretty-Jenny Han

It’s Not Summer Without You-Jenny Han

I have already read The Summer I Turned Pretty and loved it, so I will be purchasing this entire series. I am waiting for the last one to come out in paperback so that my set matches. I am anal like that.

Anna and the French Kiss-Stephanie Perkins

I have been waiting for this book to come out in paperback forever and now I have it. I am actually thinking about buying a second copy because I know that this one will probably get too much lovin.

The Vampire Diaries: Stephan’s Diary #3 Craving –L.J. Smith
I don’t think that this is L.J. Smith, but it is Vampire Diaries.