Jenuine Cupcakes

Author: Jennifer Echols Publication: July 10, 2012 By: Gallery/MTV Books 5 STARS! I think this is Jennifer Echols best work yet!   "Love isn't something you have to deserve" This book is captivating, intoxicating and addicting!  A story about love, friendship and discovering that your self-worth isn't about where you come from but who you are inside.  When this showed up on my doorstep the other day, you would've thought Santa Claus himself had hand delivered a shiny new toy straight from the North Pole, THAT'S how excited I was!   The cover is beautiful! This book combines several of my favorite things - the beach, flying and sassy southern girls who don't take *junk* from anyone. (Unless, of course, it's a hot guy who happens to be holding a secret over her head.)  Eighteen year old Leah Jones is from the wrong side of the tracks, or in this case, the wrong side of the airport runway.  Having grown up in trailer parks her w...

Author: Tammara Webber Publication: May 25, 2012 E-Book 4 STARS!    When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex’s frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life. Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she’s still the same intelligent girl she’s always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There’s just one problem—their only interactions are through email. Meanwhile, a guy in her econ class proves his worth the first night she meets him. Nothing like her popular ex or her brainy tutor, Lucas sits on the back row, sketching in a n...

Author: Melissa Walker Publication: May 22, 2012 By: Bloomsbury USA Childrens Source: Netgalley 4 Stars ! Buoy, is this a good read and such a pretty cover.  Definitely knot one you want to miss.  (See what I did there? If naut, you will...)  Lifelong friendship, true love, the ultimate betrayal, and crushing heartbreak. "Unbreak My Heart" has it all, reminding us that while you may be able to choose your friends, you can't necessarily choose who you fall in love with or help who gets hurt in the process.   Sixteen year old Clementine, or Clem was supposed to have the best summer EVER with Amanda, her BFF since kindergarten but all that changed at the end of Sophomore year.  Now, she's spending the entire three months at sea with her family aboard their boat, "The Possibility".  Here she'll be subjected to their overenthusiastic nautical attitudes (Ahoy Matey!) and their sympathetic eyes that tell her, "Everything will be OK....

Author: Megan Bostic Publication: January 17, 2012 By: HMH Children's Books 4 Stars!  Warning: Tissues required! I like the cover but the mustang should be red considering it's red in the book. I'm not sure why that bothers me but it does a little. This book isn't very big but packs a huge punch, right to the heart.  Seventeen year old Austin has terminal cancer and most likely won't live to see his eighteenth birthday.  There's still so much life left in him and even though he won't get the chance to live it, he wants to make sure those around him do.  In this heartbreaking book about love, loss and learning to let go, Megan Bostic shows us just how precious life really is.  Austin doesn't have much time left so he wants to make it count not only for himself but for the people he cares about.  With the help of his long time BFF Kaylee, he sets out for the weekend to check a few things off his bucket list, things like, overcoming his fear o...

  Author: Brian James Publication: March 27, 2012 By: Feiwel & Friends 3 Stars! I am sucker for a pretty cover and this one is no exception! It's also very fitting for the storyline.     "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream... " Set within the walls of a psychiatric ward, Life is But a Dream is a story of love and hope that follows the journey of Sabrina, a young schizophrenic who struggles with finding normalcy amidst the noise and colors the threaten to swallow up her life.  (Author Brian James' prose is so beautiful in it's imagery that you feel as if your reading a song instead of a book.)  Sabrina's parents send her to the Wellness Center after her "episodes" reach a breaking point and she's suspended from school as a result.  It's there that she meets Alec, a boy dealing with his own anger issues and whose convinced that everyone else is the problem and they're the ones who are normal.  (Tha...

Author: Jennifer E. Smith Publication: January 2, 2012 By: Poppy 4 Stars! Can four minutes really make that much difference?  If you're Hadley Sullivan, four minutes can change your life. At first glance, I was expecting this to be a light, easy read but I was wrong.  While this story does have it's pleasantly romantic moments, it's overall theme of heartfelt love runs throughout the whole book. When Hadley misses her flight to London she's both relieved and frustrated.  She doesn't really want to go to across the pond to begin with but the thought of waiting around in a crowded airport for a few hours waiting to catch the next flight out isn't all that appealing either.   Hadley struggles with claustrophobia and even the ceiling of the airport starts to feel as if it's closing in on her.  She tries to focus on staying calm but nothing seems to work and just as she's reached her point of major freak out, a cute boy with an English accent ...

Author: Holly Cupala Publication: January 3, 2012 By: HarperTeen   A MUST READ!   Another beautifully written book by Holly Cupala that's heartbreaking, gritty and real.  Everyone needs some breathing room in their lives but for Joy, it's become a struggle of life or death.  Each breathe leads her one step closer to suffocation or one step closer to freedom.  Freedom from her parents constant worry, freedom from her boyfriend Asher's control and freedom to figure out who she's meant to be.  If she can manage to escape, to find the homeless boy who offered to help her, maybe she'll be able to breathe again.   Joy, a life-long asthma sufferer is literally suffocating in her life. Her family suffocates her with their constant worry about her health - is she taking her medicine?  Does she have her emergency inhalers?  Will the next coughing fit land her in the hospital again, or worse, will this be the time she stops breathing for good?...

Happy New Year!! 2012 Reading Challenges I've signed up for  Goodreads 2012 Challenge   75 Books is my current goal...    I'm already getting started with this purchase from Barnes & Noble today.  I was SUPER excited because it's not even supposed to be out for two more days!!  Nook still has it on pre-order but I couldn't wait. :)