Monday, June 30, 2014

~Top Ten Tuesday~

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  This weeks topic is Top Ten Favorite Classic Novels.  This makes me think back to my high school and college days when reading wasn't as fun as it is now.

Crime and Punishment

I loved this book.  Who doesn't love a good murder!

Great Expectations

Loved Pip.


To Kill a Mockingbird

Amazing awesome book!

Of Mice and Men

I love anything that John Steinbeck has written.

Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

I had an English teacher who loved Edgar Allan Poe.  His stories are so dark but I really like them.

Lord of the Flies

Such a good book.  I might have to reread it this summer.

A Christmas Carol

A good Christmas book.  My kids and I always read this around the holidays.

Jane Eyre

I love reading this book.  I have it in every edition.

1984

Chilling!


On the Road

I love Jack Kerouac.  His books are not the easiest to read but entertaining.

I am sure I could add many more to this list.  What are some of your favorites?



~Book Review-Carnival by K.B. Nelson~

Carnival

Carnival
K.B. Nelson

Charlie should be packing her bags for college, but the life ahead of her isn’t one she’s certain she wants. Maybe that’s what led her to sleep with a perfect stranger at the county fair. Finding out he was a carnie was like winning the bonus round of the world’s worst game.

Blue grew up in the carnival, never staying anywhere long enough to call home. He never thought of himself as the type to seduce a local, let alone fall in love with one, but his impulsiveness got the better of him this time. He should go where the carnival takes him, but for the first time he’s not sure if he wants to follow.

When he makes the decision to stick around, Charlie eagerly follows him down the rabbit hole; into a world with no regard for consequences or regret. Most of all, he shows her that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling they can create and share. For a price. Because the higher the roller coaster goes, the faster it all comes crashing down.



4/5 STARS


My thoughts:  Wow, what an emotional roller coaster ride.  This book started out fast, with hot and steamy scenes.  A very good book that did not go in the direction that I thought.  Charlie is just a small town girl with big dreams but is afraid to act on them since the divorce of her parents.  With her best friend leaving for college and her ex-boyfriend still in love with her, she is at a crossroads in her life and feels like she doesn't belong anywhere.  Enter Blue, the hot young carnie with whom she has an instant attraction to.

After their scandalous night together, Charlie is sure she will never see Blue again.  Much to her surprise, Blue decides to stick around.  Can a relationship be based solely on sex and lies survive, or is there more to this couple?  What price will they pay to stay together?

I really liked this book.  I was so confused by the flow of the book at times but everything fit together at the end.  There were so many secrets and lies between these two that I figured there was no way they could stay together, especially with the interference of Charlies ex-boyfriend.  

This book is a New Adult Book for mature readers.  It has numerous references to sexual situations, language and mild drug use.

I received this book for free from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.  This in no way influenced the content of my review.


~Books For Review~

I received some pretty awesome books this week for review!

Amity

For fans of Stephen King and American Horror Story, a gruesome thriller suggested by the events of the Amityville Horror.

Inspired by a true-crime story of supernatural happenings and gory murders, Amity spans two generations and beyond to weave an overlapping, interconnected tale of terror, insanity, danger, and death.

I am thrilled to receive this book!  I can't wait to read it!

Carnival

Charlie should be packing her bags for college, but the life ahead of her isn’t one she’s certain she wants. Maybe that’s what led her to sleep with a perfect stranger at the county fair. Finding out he was a carnie was like winning the bonus round of the world’s worst game.

Blue grew up in the carnival, never staying anywhere long enough to call home. He never thought of himself as the type to seduce a local, let alone fall in love with one, but his impulsiveness got the better of him this time. He should go where the carnival takes him, but for the first time he’s not sure if he wants to follow.

When he makes the decision to stick around, Charlie eagerly follows him down the rabbit hole; into a world with no regard for consequences or regret. Most of all, he shows her that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling they can create and share. For a price. Because the higher the roller coaster goes, the faster it all comes crashing down.

The Competition (Rachel Knight, #4)

In Marcia Clark's most electrifying thriller yet, Los Angeles DA Rachel Knight investigates a diabolical high school massacre.

A Columbine-style massacre at a high school in the San Fernando Valley has left a community shaken to its core. Two students are identified as the killers. Both are dead, believed to have committed a mutual suicide. But in the aftermath of the shooting, as LA Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight and Detective Bailey Keller dig deeper, they realize that the pieces don't add up. Could it be that the two "killers" were themselves victims? And if so, does that mean that the real killers are still on the loose? When someone starts dropping clues that another horrific crime is in the works, Rachel and Bailey scramble desperately to profile their suspect and prevent another killing--before it's too late.

Homecoming

Ariane Michaelson is always the quiet girl in the room, the one that her kooky mother and three sisters lovingly call the wallflower. After graduating from college she finds it more than a little difficult to find the graphic design job of her dream...or any job, really. She’s more than given up on painting, and a terrible run-in with her twin sister’s fiancĂ© makes each day harder to keep a life altering secret.

Liam Ashdown was just the moody small town nobody, with one friend and a busted pickup—until he moved to LA. Spotted by famous actor and producer Michael Jennings during a late night shift at the bar, Liam is transformed seemingly overnight into Tinsel Town’s hottest bad boy. The life Liam once knew is turned upside down with models and mayhem...and there isn’t much down time in-between. 

The only thing that keeps him sane is the paintings. Beautiful ocean portraits that remind him of home, painted years ago by some friend of a friend. 

What he wouldn’t give to know her. To tell her that her art saves him everyday.

The engagement of his childhood friend, Todd, brings him back home to Craryville, to deal with a drug-addicted mother and an ailing grandmother. But it also brings him hope—somewhere in the bridal party is the woman who has been his calm and respite in the storm of fame.

The only question is, can she save him?

Very good week at Oh, The Books You'll Read!
Happy Reading!