Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Book Club Picks

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

And today is my birthday!


1. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

2. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

3. Looking for Alaska by John Green

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

6. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

7. The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares

8. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

9. The Passage by Justin Cronin
10. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Book: Fracture
Author: Megan Miranda
# of Pages: 176 (ebook)
Challenges: 2012 Debut Author Challenge, 2012 Ebook Challenge
Rating: 3 stars

Goodreads Summary
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine

—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.
                                                                                                                         My Thoughts: This book is nicely written. It has a great first sentence that grabs your attention instantly. Troy Varga is a great character that had me intrigued from his first appearance in the story. He is creepy and mysterious and I'm curious about what the story would have been like if it had been told from his POV.

I admit I am not Delaney's biggest fan. She keeps changing her mind about her feelings toward Troy and does not appreciate her best friend, Decker. After her accident, Delaney refuses to share what she is experiencing with him despite the fact that they have been friends for such a long time. Poor Decker. This is supposedly a standalone novel, but I think it should have been a little bit longer. I felt that there were a couple questions left unanswered.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

Book: Monument 14

Author: Emmy Laybourne

Release Date: June 5

Goodreads Summary

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

A huge store isn’t the worst place to be stranded. There’s food and water, bedding and books. But what if it’s not safe to leave? Emmy Laybourne had us from the get-go with her utterly fresh and fast-paced debut.

Six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids are trapped together in a chain superstore. Together they build a refuge for themselves inside, while outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapon spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Book: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
# of Pages: 327 (Paperback)
Challenge: 2012 TBR Pile Challenge
Rating: 4.5 stars

Goodreads Summary
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.
                                                                                                                         My Thoughts: This was such a great book. There was mystery, suspense, and romance. I like how the chapters are interspersed with sections for the murderer's POV. I also like how it does not have a cliffhanger ending.

Violet is stubborn and a little reckless, but she is a very likable protagonist. Her ability to detect the murdered and murderers is creepy yet fascinating. I loved her relationship with Jay. It was sweet and I'm so glad that they got together.

I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel and finding out what happens next to Violet and Jay.

Top Ten Favorite Couples in Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

1. Ron and Hermione from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

2. Jordan and Henry from Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

3. Perry and Aria from Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

4. Tucker and Clara from Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

5. Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

6. Tris and Four from Divergent by Veronica Roth

7. Isobel and Varen from Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

8. Deuce and Fade from Enclave by Ann Aguirre

9. Violet and Jay from The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

10. Percy and Annabeth from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

In My Mailbox

IMM is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

The Hunger Games Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series by Lois H. Gresh

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

For my Nook

Fracture by Megan Miranda

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Book: Under the Never Sky
Author: Veronica Rossi
# of Pages: 398 (Hardcover)
Challenge: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Summary
Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.
                                                                                                                         My Thoughts: Aria lives in Reverie, a pod where the most advanced technology is prominent. Perry lives in the "Death Shop" aka the Outside where Aether storms are plenty and danger is inevitable. Aria is kicked out of her safe and familiar home into the Outside about which she has heard many horror stories. To Aria's annoyance, she comes across Perry and is forced to depend on him for survival. As time passes their dislike for each other turns to love which neither of them sees coming.
                                                                                                                                                                     I  love Perry. He's strong, stubborn, and puts up with Aria and helps her survive despite her negative attitude toward him. I like how Perry possesses the powerful senses. It adds a great uniqueness to his character. The twists, the action, the romance, and the revelations make this a fantastic read! I can't wait to read more of Rossi's work.