Books in 2010 Survey

Found this survey through Steph Su Reads!

1. Best book of 2010 - Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I love this book so much! I read it back in January, and almost a year later, no other book has been able to top it. My favorite book ever!

2. Worst book of 2010 - Dark Flame by Alyson Noel. I use to love this series. I think Ever is the problem.

3. Most Disappointing Book of 2010 - Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I heard so much great things about this book/series, and I thought I was going to love it. But when I was reading it, it was a struggle to get through. I really didn't feel much of anything by the time I was done.

4. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2010 - Nevermore by Kelly Creagh. There basically weren't any reviews out when I started reading the ARC. I thought it was going to be a dark contemporary, involving mental disorders. So it was a complete surprise when I started to realize that it was a paranormal. I also didn't realize how good and addicting it would be from the very beginning!

5. Book you recommended to people most in 2010 - Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. And anything written by Melina Marchetta! I felt like a broken record. haha I will continue to recommend it and all her books.

6. Best series you discovered in 2010 - Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong. I have a huge crush on Derek, and I love the Chloe/Derek pairing! I've even started reading C/D fanfiction.

7. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010 - MELINA MARCHETTA. Kelley Armstrong. Simone Elkeles. The authors I can't wait to read more books: Stephanie Perkins, Kelly Creagh, Tara Kelly, Tabitha Suzuma, Jandy Nelson, and Morgan Matson.

8. Most hilarious read of 2010 - It's a tie between The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. These two cracked me up so much!

9. Book that made you cry the hardest in 2010 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. For a few days after I read the book, I felt depressed and cried myself to sleep. :(

10. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2010 -There were lots I couldn't put down. But I do remember I didn't stop for anything when I was reading Mockingjay.

11. Book you most anticipated in 2010 - It's between Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta. Actually, I anticipated TPS for 2011, but when a friend lent me her Aussie copy a few weeks ago, well...I could not wait!!

12. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010 - I can't pick just one!

Amy & Roger's Epic
Detour by Morgan Matson

The Piper's Son
by Melina Marchetta

Chasing Brooklyn
by Lisa Schroeder

13. Most memorable character in 2010 -This is hard. Lots of great characters. I'll go with... Jonah Griggs and Taylor Markham from Jellicoe Road. They are awesome. Even better when they're together!

14. Most beautifully written book in 2010 -This is another tough one. I'd say Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

15. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2010 - Definitely Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. It was the first time I had ever felt speechless and blown away after reading a book. And because of this book, I found my favorite author.

16. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2010 to finally read - Well, I didn't really start reading until 2009/2010 anyway, but the book I wish I didn't put off was A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. I had it on my wishlist since January 2010. When I finally read it in October, I couldn't put it down; it was so good!

I'll be putting up a list of my top 2010 reads next (maybe later today or tomorrow...or whenever I get around to it). :)

Review: Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Title: Timeless
Author: Alexandra Monir
Pages: 280 (ARC copy)
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 11, 2011

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

My Thoughts (contains minor spoilers): For as long as she can remember, Michele's had the same recurring dream about a young, blue-eyed man. The dream always leaves her wondering and wanting to know more about him, but that's all she can do. Because he's not real, only a dream. But after a tragedy forces Michele to live with her grandparents all the way in New York City, and with the help of a key left behind by a family member, Michele is transported back in time and discovers that the mysterious man may not be a dream after all.

While I liked the idea of the story, it didn't hold my interest as much as I had hoped. I didn't feel a connection to the characters, and I also felt the relationships were a bit too rushed, which didn't make them seem very believable. Such as Michele and Philip's relationship. Michele has dreamt about Philip all her life, and Philip has seen Michele once before, but they didn't really know each other. When they finally met, there wasn't much suspense or build-up. They immediately accepted each other and fell in love. Then there's the ancestors Michele met. Clara, Lily, and Stella. I felt they also accepted Michele way too easily. First they freaked out, but after Michele gave them a pretty simple explanation as to why she was there, they calmed down and talked to Michele as if they've known her their whole lives. It just seemed too convenient.

As for the story, I didn't really get into it until the last 100 pages. I am glad that not everything was resolved by the end. I thought I had everything figured out too, and in a way I was right, but the ending still made me go, "How did that happen?" Thankfully, Timeless is not a stand-alone, and although this book didn't quite live up to my expectations, I'm curious to find out what happens next.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

ARC provided by Different Area Codes Book Tour.

Waiting on Wednesday (21)

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Release Date: January 11, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Summary: A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme created by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Contest @ MPT's City of Books

Sarah at Miss Page-Turner's City of Books is having an international Holiday Giveaway where one follower will win one of the six 2011 YA books she has listed on her giveaway post, which includes Across the Universe, Unearthly, and Delirium. Giveaway ends January 3, 2011. To enter, check out her giveaway post here.

Review: Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Title: Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls, #1)
Author: C.C. Hunter
Pages: 398 (ARC copy)
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: March 29, 2011

Kylie Galen's about to spend the next three months trapped with a bunch of freaks. After getting caught at a party with alcohol, she's shipped off to Shadow Falls Camp--a camp for troubled teens. And these kids aren't normal freaks, either. As Kylie discovers, they're freaky freaks--witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies and shapeshifters--and the camp is a training ground where they're taught to harness their powers.

All Kylie wants to do is finish out her sentence at the camp...but everything changes when she meets Derek and Lucas. Derek is a smokin' hot guy with magical powers who's making it painfully clear that he wants to be more than just friends. And Lucas is a werewolf pack leader with whom she shares a secret past. Lucas has always made Kylie's insides melt--unfortunately, he wants nothing to do with her.

Now Kylie's got two boys playing tug of war with her heart--and a sneaking suspicion that she has magical powers of her own. After Shadow Falls Camp, how will she ever be able to go back to her normal life again?

My Thoughts: Kylie Galen's life sucks at the moment. Her grandmother passed away, her boyfriend broke up with her, her parents are getting divorced, and she's been forced to see a psychologist after she tells her parents that a guy has been stalking her. A guy that apparently only she can see.

Things only get worse for Kylie when she's caught at a party with alcohol, and at the advice of the psychologist, Kylie's parents send her to Shadow Falls Camp for the summer. Shadow Falls is suppose to be a camp for troubled teens, but Kylie quickly realizes that no one at the camp is normal. Everyone is a supernatural, and there are all types: vampires, werewolves, fairies, shape-shifters, etc.

In this book, supernaturals can figure out if a person is a supernatural, and what type of supernatural they are, by reading the person's brain pattern. Kylie is different though. For some reason, no one is able to read her brain pattern. They know she's not a normal person, but that's about it. Kylie, thinking that they are wrong about her, spends the majority of the book wishing/hoping/praying that she is not a supernatural.

And I felt that's really all that happened in the book.

Other than Shadow Falls Camp being a promoter of peace between the different species of supernaturals, teenage supernaturals go to the camp to learn how to harness their powers. Or so it states in the book's summary. Throughout the book I was waiting to read some kind of scene like that, but it never happened. There was just a bunch of talking and questions from Kylie. It seemed most of her questions were not answered until later or at all because nobody seemed to know or have the answers. That was probably to add to the mystery, but I just wish it didn't take the entire book to find out whether or not Kylie was a supernatural. Especially since it was obvious that she's a supernatural (and it got pretty annoying how much she was in denial).

As for everything else in the book... I think the most intriguing scenes were with the "ghost stalker." When we found out the ghost's story, I was surprised. Didn't see it coming. I liked Kylie's new friends Miranda and Della. The bickering between Miranda and Della was pretty funny at times. The love-triangle... Well, I tend to dislike love-triangles. I didn't hate this one, but I wasn't impressed with it either. It was a typical love-triangle. Instant attraction. Kylie couldn't stop thinking about either Lucas or Derek. Oh, and her ex-boyfriend Trey. I thought I would be rooting for one of these guys by the end, but nope, I'm not. Not much progress.

Like I mentioned before, not all the questions were answered. There is still a lot of mystery. But I guess that's why this is a series, not a stand-alone. And even though I felt like there wasn't enough action in this book, I'm intrigued enough that I would probably read the sequel.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and GoodReads for the ARC.

Aussie YA Book Challenge 2011

The 2011 Aussie YA Book Challenge is as follows:

Australian participants - Read at least 12 young adult books by Australian authors from 1st January, 2011 to 31st December, 2011.

International participants - Read at least 6 young adult books by Australian authors from 1st January, 2011 to 31st December, 2011.

They can be old or new titles, however no re-reads.

It is open to everyone. You don’t have to be a blogger but you MUST POST A REVIEW. You can post a review on Goodreads, Shelfari or you can even do a guest post on a blog like mine.

You can join anytime. The challenge runs from 1st January 2011 to 31st December, 2011.

There will be prizes throughout the year and guest posts and interviews from some awesome Aussie authors.

The 2011 Australian Young-Adult Book Challenge was created by Nic at Irresistible Reads and Nomes at Inkcrush. For more information about the challenge and to sign-up, please visit the challenge post at Nic's blog.

My favorite author (Melina Marchetta) is Australian, and her books make up more than half of the Australian novels I've read. So this challenge will be a great opportunity to get me to read books by other Australian authors. Especially since I've already read all of Melina Marchetta's books.

(Update Mar. 2011- I'm surprised how different the actual list is from the tentative list I had!)

Here are the books I've read for the challenge:
1. A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley [Loved it! Read it! ★★★★★]
2. Good Oil by Laura Buzo [review]
3. Saltwater Moons by Julie Gittus [review]
4. Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar [review to come]
5. Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres [review]
6. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley [review]
7. The Gorgon in the Gully by Melina Marchetta [review] (children's book)
8. Winter's Shadow by M.J. Hearle [review]
9. Girl Saves Boy by Steph Bowe [review]
10. Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood [Cute & funny. ★★★★]
11. Blood Song by Rhiannon Hart [review]
12. The Bridge by Jane Higgins [Great story. ★★★★]
13. Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta [review]
14. This is Shyness by Leanne Hall [Bizarre! ★★★★]

Others I plan to read for the challenge:
-Bloodflower by Christine Hinwood

Might read:
-Pink by Lili Wilkinson
-John Belushi Is Dead by Kathy Charles
-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

If you're interested in joining the challenge, be sure to check out the Aussie YA Book Challenge 2011 post! :)

In My Mailbox #32

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Bought:
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

ARCs Won:
Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls, #1) by C.C. Hunter from GoodReads.
Desires of the Dead (The Body Finder, #2) by Kimberly Derting from Supernatural Undergound.

Received the first ARCs I've ever won this past week! :) Two weeks ago, I was minding my own business when I noticed I received an e-mail from Kimberly Derting. I was like, "Huh what?" (She wrote The Body Finder, one of my favorite YA paranormal novels.) When I opened the e-mail and read that I had won an ARC of Desires of the Dead, well, you can bet I was extremely excited and OMGing all over the place. haha Surprisingly, I haven't read it yet, but I need to finish about 3 other books before I start. Then last week, I won Born at Midnight through a GoodReads giveaway, which was pretty exciting as well. I'm actually reading that one right now.

Also, I received the UK edition of The Sky Is Everywhere! (Already read it months ago through the library. Loved it!) I bought it from The Book Depository and was worried they were going to send me the US edition because they've been known to send wrong editions, but thankfully they sent me the correct one. :D I gotta say... WHOA. It's so freakin' pretty! The UK edition completely annihilates the US one. Seriously, no competition. It's amazing.

Okay, that's about it. Have a great week, yall! :)

Contest @ Loves to Read

Adriana at ~*Loves to Read*~ is holding a blogoversary giveaway. She will be giving away five books to 3 US followers and one book via The Book Depository to 1 international follower. To enter, check out her giveaway post here. In addition to that, she is having an international giveaway (to where The Book Depository ships) for one 2011 YA release that she has listed. To enter that part of the blogoversary giveaway, and to see which books she is offering, go here. :)

In My Mailbox #31

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Borrowed:
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

Bought:
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Happy Happy Clover, Vol. 5 by Sayuri Tatsuyama

Gift/Won:
Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3) by Patrick Ness

I never thought I would ever read The Piper's Son before it's US release or even hold the Australian edition in my hands. But I actually am now. O_O Melina Marchetta is my FAVORITE author, so I'm way beyond excited. Thanks to my Bookers friends on GoodReads! *glomps them all* I will start reading it as soon as I finish re-reading the companion novel Saving Francesca!

Hush, Hush was given to me by the same friend who sent The Piper's Son. Really curious about that one; I've read mixed reviews, so I wonder what I'll think about it. The final volume of Happy Happy Clover I bought for my little sister. It was suppose to be a birthday present, but since her birthday was weeks ago...looks like it'll be a Christmas present instead. It's a cute, short manga series for kids. It'll especially appeal to girls. :) Also bought Anna and the French Kiss; plan on reading it with my GoodReads book group sometime next week. Can't wait! :D

And finally, Candlewick Press held a contest for a t-shirt on their Twitter. I was not the winner; however, since there was only 3 (!!) participants, they sent me a free book! The book ended up being a signed, hardcover copy of Monsters of Men, which was really cool. I'm super motivated to read the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy, but I need to find time to read them because they're thick books!

Well, that's it for this week! Hopefully my next IMM will be as exciting. Now, time to continue reading. >:)

10 Things About Me

I was tagged by Nic @ Irresistible Reads with this blog award! Now I have to list 10 things that you don't know about me.

1. Every few months, I have a dream (or actually, nightmare) where a wild animal (like a bear, tiger, or lion) is running around my neighborhood eating people. It scares me so much! Thankfully I haven't gotten eatten yet.

2. AJ is my first and middle initial. I've never been called AJ before. But I chose it for my blog because I knew there would be a lot of Alexas. ;)

3. My mom is Mexican & my dad is Puerto Rican. I've been to Mexico twice (years ago; my dad drove both times & it took 3 days to get there). I think passports are required now though, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to go next. I know, I really should invest in a passport. I've never been to Puerto Rico. Plane tickets are too expensive, but hopefully I can go there one day. Puerto Rico is a US terriotory, so no passport needed. :)

4. I don't like the word "goody" (or "goodies"). No idea why that word irritates me.

5. When I was a kid, I use to find money on the ground all the time. I guess since I was short, I spotted these things easily. Once, I even found a $100 bill outside! I spent it all on junk. Why can't I find that much now? I really want to buy some books right about now. :P

6. I have braces. It's common in the US, and the average for wearing braces varies from 2 to 4 years. Guess how long I've had to endure the torture? It'll be 10 years next Febraury. I don't tell much people that because it makes me feel embarrassed. People assume I must have had really horrible teeth, but that's not the case. Just bad luck and stubborn teeth. But there is good news. I know for a fact that I'll get them off next year. *relieved*

7. I got a new brother yesterday. haha He's a chihuahua named Negrito, and his picture is on the right. I don't think he likes me. Meanie...

8. The previous dog my parents had was a pekingese named Pancho. He was even meaner! I have a scar on my leg to prove to it. :(

9. I have a fear of vomiting. I use to throw up a lot when I was a kid. Don't know why. I'm proud to say I haven't thrown up in 10 years! (Yes, I've kept count.) I also have a fear of smelling vomit or seeing/hearing someone vomit. I tell people to let me know if they start feeling nauseous. That way I can get away from them as quickly as possible. ;P

10. I'm going to be honest. It took me forever to come up with this list! My mind always goes blank when I do these things. lol

I tag Kulsuma (sunshine and stardust) and Basma Aal (In Between the Lines).