Sunday Wrap-Up #37

This past week was pretty busy. Not only was it an extended holiday weekend for the Mr. but my birthday was also this week. Since the Mr. was home pretty much all week, I didn’t get any reading done. Which means I am really falling behind. I also decorated the house this week with the scarce amount of Halloween decorations we own. It’s felt like fall since we moved here. It could have something to do with going from the 115* desert temperatures to the cool and breezy 70* temperatures by the ocean. Either way, I’ve been snuggling up in hoodies and jeans while all my neighbors are heading to the beach. Yeah, I’m definitely the odd man out here. Oh well, the cooler temperature is the best time to read anyways. Hopefully I will catch up with all the books soon.
 
 
Last week on BSA:
Everything Changes by Samantha Hale (Review)
In Her Wake by KA Tucker (Review)

This week on BSA:
The Threshing Circle by Neil Grimmett (Excerpt)
The Beginners Guide to Making and Using Dried Foods by Teresa Marrone (Review)
Bound to Danger by Katie Reus (Review)
Perfected by Katie Jarvik Birch (Review)
 
 

The Bargaining
By: Carly Anne West
Release Date: Feb. 17, 2015
Genre: YA Horror/Paranormal
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

The fact that neither of her parents wants to deal with her is nothing new to Penny. She’s used to being discussed like a problem, a problem her mother has finally passed on to her father. What she hasn’t gotten used to is her stepmother…especially when she finds out that she’ll have to spend the summer with April in the remote woods of Washington to restore a broken-down old house.

Set deep in a dense forest, the old Carver House is filled with abandoned antique furniture, rich architectural details, and its own chilling past. The only respite Penny can find away from April’s renovations is in Miller, the young guy who runs the local general store. He’s her only chance at a normal, and enjoyable, summer.

But Miller has his own connection to the Carver House, and it’s one that goes beyond the mysterious tapping Penny hears at her window, the handprints she finds smudging the glass panes, and the visions of children who beckon Penny to follow them into the dark woods. Miller’s past just might threaten to become the terror of Penny’s future….

Fangirl
By: Rainbow Rowell
Published: Sept. 10, 2013
Genre: Contemp. YA
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

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 sister, 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 fan fiction, 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 fan fiction 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? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Witch Eyes
By: Scott Tracey
Published: Sept. 8, 2011
Genre: YA Paranormal
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden’s powers to unlock Belle Dam’s secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father–and Trey, the enigmatic guy he’s falling for, is Catherine’s son.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves.

Another
By: Yukito Ayatsuji
Published: April 3, 2009
Genre: Horror Manga
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

26 years ago, in a third-year classroom of a middle school, there was a student named Misaki. As an honors student who was also good at sports, the charming girl was popular with her classmates. When she suddenly died, her classmates decided to carry on as if she was still alive until graduation. Then, in the spring of 1998, a boy named Kouichi Sakakibara transfers to that classroom, and he grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere in that classroom. In particular, there is a beautiful, aloof girl named Misaki Mei who wears an eyepatch and is always alone drawing pictures.

Mind Games
By: Kiersten White
Published: Dec. 3, 2013
Genre: Paranormal YA
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

Wicked
By: Gregory Maguire
Published: Dec. 5, 2000
Genre: Fantasy
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

 
 


The Mr. was able to find a first edition first printing of Outlander for my birthday! Super excited about it. It’s in amazing condition which is insane considering the book is 23 years old. Gah! I still can’t believe he was able to find a copy.