Populazzi by Elise Allen

Title:  Populazzi
Author: Elise Allen
Hardcover, 400 pages

Published August 1st 2011 by Harcourt Children's Books (first published July 20th 2011)

Plot:

Cara has never been one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and always ready with the perfect thing to say. A girl at the very top of the popularity tower. One of the Populazzi.


Now, junior year could change everything. Cara’s moving to a new school, and her best friend urges her to seize the moment—with the help of the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and if Cara transforms into the perfect girlfriend for guys ever-higher on the tower, she’ll reach the ultimate goal: Supreme Populazzi.

The Ladder seems like a lighthearted social experiment, a straight climb up, but it quickly becomes gnarled and twisted. And when everything goes wrong, only the most audacious act Cara can think of has a chance of setting things even a little bit right.

My Thoughts:

I adored this novel. Cara was so fun to read about. She takes some major risks and at times I found myself biting my nails to see what she was going to do next. Cara and her best friend at times seem like they are only interested in climbing the social ladder and don't care who they hurt, but I was able to look past that because I was into the story.

There are so many deliciously steamy boys to read about in this novel. It really kept me hooked to watching Cara's climb to the upper hierarchy of popularity. There are some twists in this novel I didn't expect, but glad they were thrown in to make this novel stand out amongst the other YA contemporary novels out there.

All and all, I really liked it. I recommend this to any YA contemporary fan who likes plots centered around high school popularity and smexy time with guys.

Musical Mondays: Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica is one of those bands who create such beautiful music it's easy to draw your own artisitc abilities from their infulence. Their songs can reach down into your soul and pull out an inner darkness that's buried so deep, you'll be surprised on the kinda of emotion you can create for your characters. Apocalyptica, along with a few other bands are my go-to source when I need a little writing inspiration. They can help me get into someone else's mind and emotion, which helps me flesh out my novel. I also love how they feature a new singer in every song! Keeps it fresh with the same errie beats. If you ever have a chance to see them live...DO IT! They are awesome! Here are a few videos that blew me away! Enjoy!!

End of Me:

 

Broken Pieces:


Not Strong Enough:



I Don't Care:

Double Take Covers: The Other Life

I'm super excited to read this one!! The cover is creepy. I love it. Look for The Other Life May 2012 from author Susanne Winnacker!

Plot:
Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

Tales of Summer Romance

Plot:


Dip your toes into a collection of short stories that will warm your heart like a sunny day at the beach. Tales of falling in love and finding romance that mends the broken heart, romance that's just for fun, romance from days gone by and romance that lasts forever. Summertime is heating up, so grab a cool drink, kick back and get swept away by a flurry of summer romance.

Tales of Summer Romance: A Collection of Short Stories



Review: 

Love this collection. The stories range from Contemp to Historical. Great mix! Plus it features Historical Romance writer Susan Gee Heino (Author of Mistress By Mistake, Damsel in Distress, Temptress in Training). Each author brings a fresh new voice to the collection and it's a book I will probably reread again because I liked it so much. This is the ideal novel to take the beach and read while you soak up some summer sun. Great book for a cheap price (2.99) to add to you ereader. A the profits goes to animal charity too!

Double Take Covers: Perception (Clarity #2) by Kim Harrington

Clarity rocked! I'm super excited to meet up with Clare again in Perception (Clarity #2). Look for it March 1st 2012 by Scholastic Point.

Plot:

When you can see things others can't, what do you do when someone's watching you?

Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visions from the past.

Only Clare would rather not be a celebrity. She prefers hanging back, observing. Her gift is not a game to her.

But then someone starts playing with her head . . . and heart. Messages and gifts from a secret admirer crop up everywhere Clare turns. Could they be from Gabriel, the gorgeous boy who gets Clare's pulse racing? Or from Justin, Clare's hopeful ex-boyfriend who'd do anything to win her back?

One thing is certain. Clare needs to solve this mystery, and soon. Because the messages are becoming sinister, and a girl in town has suddenly disappeared.

Double Take Covers: Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

This Dystopian series left me wanting more. Fingers crossed book two will rock. Pandemonium is scheduled to release March 6th 2012 by HarperTeen (first published February 2012).

Plot:
Lauren Oliver captivated readers with Delirium, the first book in a thrilling dystopian trilogy in which Lena Haloway dared to fall in love with Alex and escape the cure, the government-mandated procedure that renders a person immune to the disease of love. Lena and Alex staked their lives on leaving their oppressive society, but only Lena broke free.

Pandemonium continues Lena’s gripping story. After escaping from Portland, Maine, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community, where she transforms herself into a warrior for the resistance. A future without Alex is unimaginable, but Lena pushes forward and fights, both for him and for a world in which love is no longer considered a disease. Swept up in a volatile mix of revolutionaries and counterinsurgents, Lena struggles to survive—and wonders if she may be falling in love again.

Full of danger, forbidden romance, and exquisite writing, Lauren Oliver’s sequel to Delirium races forward at a breathtaking pace and is sure to appeal to fans who crave the high-stakes action of The Hunger Games and the bittersweet love story of Romeo & Juliet.

Double Take Covers: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano

I cannot wait for this book! Wither left off with such a cliff hanger! Fever hits shelves February 21st 2012 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.  

Plot:
Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.