Review: All Broke Down (Rusk University #2) by Cora Carmack

All Broke Down (Rusk University #2) by Cora Carmack
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

In this second book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can't only fight for what you believe in... sometimes you have to fight for what you love.

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians you name it, she's probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He's in for a different kind of fighting. And though he's arrogant and infuriating, she can't help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it's trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He's met girls like her before fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn't think he's broken, and he definitely doesn't need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about: his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.  

My Thoughts:

This second book to Cora Carmack's Rusk University series BLEW MY MIND AWAY. I loved All Lined Up, so my expectations for this one were high too, but I never even dared to experience the level of awesomeness this one delivered.

Dylan is known to fight for what she cares about. She feels like for her whole life, she has been fighting to get acceptance and to be loved. Her parents love her and she loves them, but at the same time, she feels like she can never fully be herself around them. She has had two serious relationship in her life, the longest of them with Henry, the guy who's perfect on paper and loved by her family. So when Henry leaves her and her latest cause, a homeless shelter in the city, lands her in jail, she has a feeling that things are falling apart. But then she meets Silas Moore, a gorgeous, enigmatic young man who's in jail for fighting and everything changes.

Silas Moore was a complete douche in All Lined Up. But in this one we see a COMPLETELY different side of him and I must admit that I now love him more than I love Carson. Silas is arrogant, temperamental and yes, bit of a douche, but he is also broken and misunderstood. What I really love about Cora Carmack's characterisation of him is the fact that though he might have violent tendencies or a temperament, he never hurts Dylan. He talks her dirty and has sex with her, but only when she's okay with it. I am so tired with new adult male characters who are glorified despite the fact that they are abusing both mentally and physically. Silas is not that, and that is why I love him. Constantly while reading this book, I kept thinking of Tim Riggins (one of my future husbands for sure) from Friday Night Lights, making connections between the two characters. I am happy that towards the end, I started to see Silas as his own individual, but at the same time, I did not mind at all the fact that every single time Silas was present on the page, I had the image of Tim Riggins at the back of my mind. They for sure share similaries and to be completely honest, I am dying to talk to with someone about them both.

Though the development of the relationship between Dylan and Silas might feel a bit quick for some readers, I did not mind it because at the end of the day, it is not instalove. It's more like insta-attraction, which I totally get, mostly because I feel it towards so many fictional characters, celebrities and professional ice hockey players. They become friends (with some benefits) and through getting to know each other, they learn something new not only about each other, but about themselves as well. Yes, there are some sexy times here, but throughout, the sexual encounters feel natural and like they actually have a purpose within the narrative. Carmack's prose is touching, romantic and also incredibly funny – I laughed out loud several times while reading this book, which is something that does not happen very often.

What I really enjoyed about the first novel and what I kept loving about this one as well is the sports setting. Though football is not really my piece of cake, I also happen to be in love with a team sport, ice hockey, and always find myself really enjoying novels that deal with the team dynamic and a relationship between someone who's on the team and someone who's not. Honestly, the only thing that would make me love these books even more is if they were set around an ice hockey team instead of a football time. But then at the same time, I probably would not have made the Tim Riggins connection if the football wasn't involved and really, you should know, I am always greatful when I get a chance to think about Tim Riggins. ALWAYS. 

5 Snowflakes

Stacking the Shelves #79

A weekly meme hosted by, Tynga's Reviews, that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review.

Our recap for the week!

Reviews:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 

Nightbird by Alice Hofffman

When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Stirling

Promos:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner Collector's Edition

Memes: 

Waiting on Wednesday

What landed in our happy hands!

For Review:

To Hold a Bridge by Garth Nix

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

From a Distant Star by Karen McQuestion

The Escape by Hannah Jayne

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

Rook by Sharon Cameron

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

*Special thanks to HarperCollins,  Arthur A. Levine Books, Karen McQuestion, Sourcebook Fire, Harlequin Teen, Bloomsbury USA Childrens, Scholastic Books, & HMH Books for Young Readers*

That's it for us this week!  Please leave me a link so I can see all your pretties as well!

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Published: September 10, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

A coming-of-age tale of fanfiction, family, and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan.... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she's really good at it. She and her twin, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.

Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... and she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Thoughts
“To really be a nerd, she'd decided, you had to prefer fictional worlds to the real one.”

~Raises hand~ Yes, I’m a nerd.

This was it! I’m so glad I gave Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell a try. After plowing through several books that were falling in the 3 and 4 star categories, impatience was setting in as I waited to stumble upon my next 5 star experience. Loved this book!

Cather Avery and her twin sister Wren are off to college to embark on a new journey. However, where Wren is ready to embrace college life and enjoy the freedom, parties and new friends, Cath is scared to death of leaving her comfortable world by her sister’s side behind. Cath struggles with moving passed her Simon Snow fiction obsession. She’s made a name for herself in the fanfic world writing about Simon and Bass, hanging out in fan forums and creating an alternate story about this world she knows so much about. So, when one of her college writing class throws her a curve ball when submits fanfic for one of her assignments, a big fat F for plagiarizing has Cath wondering if college and fictional writing is really for her. Add a zany cast of roommates, her roommate’s ex-boyfriend falling for her, a classmate exploiting her craft, and this book becomes dramatic in the most subtle way. There were so many turns to this story, but the flow was perfect and steady.

Fangirl is a perfect balance of character driven and well paced drama. The cast blends and crashes in the most intriguing ways ever. There was not one wasted moment of interaction between the cast and I enjoyed every minute.

It goes without saying that I loved Cath and Levi together! Levi was full of smiles of heartfelt moments. Levi was such a great guy. It was hard not to fall for him.

“You give away nice like it doesn't cost you anything.” ~Cath

I enjoyed how Levi tested Cath’s emotional limits and was honest with her despite how he knew she’d react. Honesty, smiles, lattes and muffins… I could fall for a guy like this!

“I miss you."
"That's stupid," she said. "I saw you this morning."
"It's not the time," Levi said, and she could hear that he was smiling." It's the distance.”~Levi

I embraced Cath’s insecurities and angry kitten attitude. This character sure went through a lot with the abandonment of her mom, her father’s psychological struggles and her twin sister’s desire to go out on her own. This played into how Cath connected with others, so yes… I sympathized with her.

“I don’t trust anybody. Not anybody. And the more that I care about someone, the more sure I am they’re going to get tired of me and take off.” ~Cath

Overall, Fangirl had it all - a great cast, an original plot and a steady stream of drama that kept me glued to the story. Love!

5 Snowflakes

Review: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Copy from Edelweiss

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.

Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.

Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence, to document the journey with images.

Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.

Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.

Caden Bosch is torn.

A captivating and powerful novel that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by one of today's most admired writers for teens.

My Thoughts:

Being a book blogger and an avid Twitter user, it seems to me like I've been seeing the name of Neal Shusterman around for years. His name and his books seem to attract a lot of acclaim and admiration and especially his writing style always seemed like something I should be aware of. When the possibility to review Shusterman's upcoming release Challenger Deep was given to me, I decided that it is finally time for me to see what everyone's talking about.

Challenger Deep is definitely one of the most unique books I've ever read. I know I've been throwing the word 'unique' around a lot recently, but seriously, it seems like so far this year I have ended up reading books that all have left an impression of uniqueness on me. And hey, that's something I love. For so many years I have faced with one generic paranormal love story after another than right now, I take anything that's not been copied from Twilight. But anyway, back to the topic. So yes, Challenger Deep is something I haven't read before. At first, I must admit I was a bit confused and not quite sure whether this book was for me. But due to the short chapters and the intriguing, unrelatable narrative voice, I kept going. And wow, once I got to the point that everything started to make sense, I realized how brilliant this book really is.

In order not to give too much away from this book, I will stick pretty tightly to the Goodreads synopsis. In Challenger Deep, the reader is introduced to Caden Bosch who seems to inhabit two different realities and two different stories. Some know him as one of the crewmates of the ship heading to the deepest point on earth, whereas others identify him as the 15 year old high school student who is suddenly acting very strangely. As the book processes, this two realities start to come together in quite surprising ways.

Mental health and the stigma surrounding it really seems to be a trend with YA novels this spring. For me, Challenger Deep was probably the fourth book this year that extensively focuses on character with mental health problems and in the ways he is seen by those that surround him. Once again, I must express my gratitude about the fact that books like this are written – the importance of making young people aware of the complexities of mental health issues cannot be expressed in words. The author's note at the end of the book gives this book even more credibility, which makes this book definitely one of the best, most honest books I've ever come across about mental health issues.

When I was finally introduced to Shusterman's prose, I asked myself “Milka, why have you acted like an idiot and not read the books of this man before?”. Seriously, his prose is that good. It is vivid, descriptive, beautiful and lyrical. The way he builds these two worlds, Caden at the boat and Caden as a high school student, is so masterfully done and throughout holds a tension about what is going to happen next. I am always a big fan on unreliable narration, and in Challenger Deep I found probably the most unreliable narrator I've ever come across on in YA literature. So if you are into that sort of thing, this DEFINITELY is for you. There are also some cool illustrations in this book, to which reading this from Kindle probably did not do justice. But if you get a chance to see the physical copy, definitely check the illustrations! I am definitely going to do so once this hits the shelves.

Challenger Deep isn't the easiest book to read. Though the chapters are short and the narrative flows well, I felt like I had to take breaks from the reading just because the subject matter feels so heavy. Though I am all for binge reading, this, at least for me, wasn't a binge reading type of title. Rather, I read for a while and then let everything I had read to simmer in my mind. And I am happy I did it that away because I feel like I was able to get more out of this book. But whether you are a binge reader or a let-it-simmer kind of reader, you definitely should check out Challenger Deep. 

4 Snowflakes

The Maze Runner Collector's Edition!

THE FIRST TWO NOVELS IN JAMES DASHNER’S #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MAZE RUNNER SERIES, NOW AVAILABLE IN ONE VOLUME IN THE MAZE RUNNER AND THE SCORCH TRIALS: THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION

Edition Carries a First Printing of 150,000 and Includes Exclusive Bonus Content

Delacorte Press is pleased to announce the publication of THE MAZE RUNNER AND THE SCORCH TRIALS: THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION (on sale April 14, 2015 / $19.99), which brings the first two books in James Dashner’s bestselling series together in one edition for fans and new readers to enjoy. Featuring exclusive bonus content within its 816 pages and carrying a first printing of 150,000, the collector’s edition will prepare fans and moviegoers for the second film in the franchise, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which will be released September 18, 2015 and stars Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Rosa Salazar, and Giancarlo Esposito.

EntertainmentWeekly.com has described The Maze Runner as a “mysterious survival saga that passionate fans describe as a fusion of Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Lost.”

Over 10 million copies of the Maze Runner series have been sold in all formats, and Dashner fans continue to multiply as they are introduced to his heart-pounding stories, which appeal to readers of all ages. In addition to the original novels, this edition includes “The Maze Runner Files,” which was originally published as an eBook short. Now accessible to all readers in print format, “The Maze Runner Files” features top-secret information, overheard conversations, emails between WICKED employees, memos meant to be destroyed after reading, and a selection of the Gladers’ suppressed memories, all of which help fans unlock some of the mysteries behind the Maze, the Gladers, and the people who put them there. This edition also includes an exclusive fan sticker.

The year 2015 will be another exciting one for Dashner fans, with multiple books being published. The movie tie-in edition of The Scorch Trials will be released on August 4, 2015, along with a hardcover box set of all four novels in the series (The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, and The Kill Order) on the same date. The film adaptation of The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) will release on September 18, 2015, and the final novel in the Mortality Doctrine series, The Game of Lives, will be published on November 17, 2015. All titles are supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign that includes an author tour in November. Follow James Dashner on Twitter (@JamesDashner), Facebook, and Instagram, and visit his website at JamesDashner.com.

James Dashner is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of numerous awards for his novels. In addition to the critically acclaimed Maze Runner series, Dashner is the author of the Mortality Doctrine series, the Thirteenth Reality series, and two books in the Infinity Ring series. He lives in Utah with his family.

I am definitely going to grab this collector's edition!  I haven't dived into this series yet, but my blog partner Tina has loved it from the beginning and has told me nothing but amazing things about it!  What better way to start it right?!