Author: Sara

Zac and Mia Book Review

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Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

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This review is based an advanced reader’s copy given to me by the site, ask Edelweiss, page in exchange for an honest review. This had no influence on the integrity of my review. Thanks to Edelweiss and HMH Kids for this book. 

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Author Website

GoodReads Summary:

The last person Zac expects in the room next door is a girl like Mia, angry and feisty with questionable taste in music. In the real world, he wouldn’t—couldn’t—be friends with her. In hospital different rules apply, and what begins as a knock on the wall leads to a note—then a friendship neither of them sees coming.

You need courage to be in hospital; different courage to be back in the real world. In one of these worlds Zac needs Mia. And in the other Mia needs Zac. Or maybe they both need each other, always.

This book is already available in bookstores in Australia and New Zealand. It will be hitting bookstores in the United States, Canada, Germany, Russia, Italy, Brazil and Turkey throughout this year.

My Review:

It took me awhile to get into this book, and I think that was my one only problem with it. It took awhile for me to really care. I loved the voice of Zac, definitely, but I think I loved the voice of Mia more and so when we reached the point of view of Mia, I was more drawn into the story. I felt like it took awhile for me to care about both of them. When you reach the part where you switch from Zac’s point of view to Mia’s, when you’ve gotten to know both of the characters, that is when I really grew attached to them and the rest of the book flew fast under my fingers.

I must admit that I was a bit reluctant when I received this book to read. Not because I knew A.J. Betts or the synopsis sounded bad, because that wasn’t it at all. It was more like, I really love The Fault in Our Stars but I’m getting kind of tired of it and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to dive into another contemporary romance book about kids with cancer. I wasn’t sure if it would be different or whether I would be impressed or whether this book would just fall into the list of books that I’ve read that haven’t quite made an impression on me.

I was proven definitely wrong. While it took me awhile to become attached the book and the characters, I admired the story that A.J. was building. It wasn’t a romance, not really, and both of the characters felt so real and raw to me, that I couldn’t help but want to know which direction they were going in. There was nothing romantic about the lives either of them were living. They were raw and honest and up front about the lot in life that was handed to them, and I think that’s why Mia stood out to me the most. Mia’s struggle with her cancer and not just the way it attacks her body, but the way it changes her social life, and her standing with her mom, her friends and her boyfriend, just felt so real. In Zac’s point of view, she felt shallow, loud, annoying, I suppose, but in her point of view, she felt vulnerable and emotional and relatable.

What could have been a shallow, been-there-done-that, story of two kids with cancer turned into something much more to me. The characters both change as the story goes in, in ways that you didn’t expect. Both of them have such different ways of approaching what is going in their lives and as their friendship, and yes romantic relationship, deepens, you can see the effect that it has on the other. The book is about hope and hopelessness and fighting and struggling and losing your confidence and will and getting lost on the way to finding yourself. Its a beautiful story of two friends, trying to define themselves outside of what cancer has done to them, and it definitely impressed me. I would definitely recommend picking this book up when it hits your country!

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Fictional Crush of the Week: Daemon Black from the Lux Series

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Character Name:

Daemon Black

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The guy who models as Daemon Black on all the covers…hubba hubba. 

Book or Series They Appear In:

The Lux Series

Obsidian, thumb Onyx, story Opal, viagra approved Origin, Opposition (Not Yet Released)

Author/Creator:

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Played By: 

No One Yet

Who They Are:

I’m going to remind you guys again because I”m still getting complaints. My FCotW’s WILL be spoiler filled. Sorry. I’ve warned you so much time haha. 

Daemon Black is the main character, alongside Katy Swartz, in the Lux series. He is Katy’s next door neighbor: mysterious, extremely sexy and a completely asshole. Katy hates him, until he saves her life, and it comes with consequences. Daemon is part of an alien race called the Luxen, and he used his powers to save her, marking her, making her a target for their enemy, the Arum. What starts out as a grudging need to protect Katy turns into way more. The series follows their love story, and the people they are constantly on the run. In one of the books, Daemon heals Katy from basically near death and this changes Katy and gives her unique powers. Because of this, she is a hot commodity and together, they have to fight to keep themselves safe.

Daemon has dark hair, impossible green eyes, and is ridiculously good looking, because, you know, if I was an alien, that’s exactly what I would look like. He’s unbelievably cocky and teasing and he knows exactly what to say. It takes him a while to admit that he’s falling for Katy, but when he does, he’s fiercely in love with her, and protective and loyal to her. He’s an incredible fighter, and is very very loyal to his family members.

Why I Am Crushing On Them: 

Seriously, the first time that I read the Lux series, I was dying. I could not believe that this existed. I remember seeing the cover and being like…no. Just no. I didn’t like it at all. But my friend Megan convinced me to read it and I’m glad I did. They are so guilty pleasure books but I love them, and a huge part of that is down to one Mr Daemon Black. When I first started reading the book, he reminded me so much of Jace Wayland, that I could barely handle it. I think it was the cockiness.

Plus, Jennifer just writes him as this sexy, sexy man and you watch as Katy goes from being absolutely disgusted with him to trying to control her hormones at every turn. I mean, in Obsidian, the first novel, Katy asks Daemon whether he’s equipped like a normal male, and instead of just saying, “Why, yes, Katy, I do have a penis”, he rolls on top of her and rolls his hips to show her that yes, he is anatomically correct. I’m like, what the hell? And he continues to do stuff like that which drives Katy crazy, which drives me crazy. He’s unbelievably and undeniably sexy as a character.

But I also like Daemon as a character, and his development. I like that it takes a long time for him to get openly emotional with Katy, and that it takes a while for him to say “I love you” and that sort of thing because its true to him. There’s no rushed feelings wit him. You see him slowly fall in love with her, and you see his fierce protectiveness of her and the desire he has for, and its just kind of fun to watch it happen.

Notable Quotes:

“Did you think you could stop me? I’ll burn the world down to save her.”

“I will always be in love with you. That’s not going to change today or two weeks from now. I will be just as in love with you in twenty years as I am today.”

 “I held her tight, and I knew right then I would burn down the whole universe for her if I had to. I would do anything to keep her safe. Kill. Heal. Die. Anything. Because she was my everything.”

 “Another fanboy. I have them everywhere.”

“No Olive Garden? Man, we’ve got to get that boy some endless breadsticks and salad. Travesty.”

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Can I just say…after doing this, I really want to read these books again…

Divergent Giveaway: Win a Copy of Divergent Signed by the Author and Cast!

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Happy Divergent Release Day!

I hope you all are going to the theaters today (and ALL WEEKEND) to go see this movie. Remember guys: movie sequels are only made if the first one is successful so let’s go out, visit this see Divergent and get Insurgent made!

So I hope by now that you all have watched my vlog recap of my time at the Divergent Black Carpet Premiere in Los Angeles. It was an absolute blast and I had such a great time. I am so glad I was able to meet people like Theo and Miles and Ansel. SO much fun.

Check out my full collection of pictures from the premiere on Facebook here.

Check out my vlog about the premiere here.

Luckily for all you who were unable to attend, my friend Abby got an extra book signed and by a TON of the cast and it looks like its time for me to have a giveaway!

Make sure you read this whole post! Its VERY important!

Here is the Prize: 

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One Copy of Divergent Signed By: 

Author Veronica Roth
Kate Winslet (Jeanine Matthews)
Tony Goldwyn (Andrew Prior)
Ansel Elgort (Caleb Prior)
Theo James (Four)
Miles Teller (Peter)
Ashley Judd (Natalie Prior)
Zoe Kravitz (Christina)
Maggie Q (Tori)
Amy Newbold (Molly)
Christian Madsen (Al)

The Rules (Yes, there has to be Rules): 

The contest will run from today, March 21st to April 4th!

The winner will be contacted within 12 hours of contest end, and if the winner does NOT respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

The contest IS International :)

Make sure to come back every day to tweet about the giveaway and earn extra entries!

Share with your friends!

This contest is in no way endorsed by Veronica Roth, Neil Burger, Lionsgate Company, Summit Entertainment, Katherine Tegen Books, etc. WhatANerdGirlSays is not responsible for any lost or damaged prizes.

The Catch (Yes, There’s a Catch)

Now, that’s a ridiculously amazing prize. Look up above at that list. That’s incredible and it took some hard work to get those signatures. Which means I expect some hard work to be done to earn this prize.

There are a TON of ways to enter, so enter a LOT. Do all of those entries! Show me that you want this. Every person who does every single thing on the rafflecopter list will be entered into a special secret giveaway. Please email a snapshot of your completed rafflecopter to whatanerdgirlsays at gmail dot com.

There are also options to show off your Divergence. Show me you are Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. More details in the rafflecopter. Those who do those entries will also be entered in the secret giveaway!

Are you ready to enter already? Here you go!

Enter Now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vlog: Excerpt From My Novel, The Awakened!

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Oh yes, check you read that right, my friends! My newest vlog is up on YouTube and its a video of me reading an excerpt from my novel, The Awakened.

It was originally titled The Reawakened but after much thought and back and forth and all that, I’ve renamed it The Awakened.

I’m inching toward the end of finishing it, I’m reaching the big climax part of the novel, and so I’m really getting excited for finishing it. Once I finish it, I can get down to the nitty gritty of editing, re-writing and getting the word out to get it published!

So I thought, what a better way to start drumming up excitement for it than to read an excerpt from it to you guys!

So here it is :) I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think in the comments!

You can read the first five chapters of The Awakened on my Wattpad here! 

Happy Writing!

Divergent Black Carpet Los Angeles Premiere Vlog Recap!

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Hey guys! How’s it going? I hope you’re having a wonderful week and I hope that you’re planning on going out to see Divergent tomorrow. You all know how important that first weekend is for a movie, viagra in order to get a sequel so go out there and watch it guys!

As you guys might have seen on my Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr and Facebook, I went to the premiere on Monday. It was an absolute blast, and I just…I had so much fun.

Now instead of writing up a recap of the premiere, I decided to do a vlog instead. I know, right? I’m becoming more and more determined to do more vlogs.

So here we are, check it out on YouTube, my vlog of the Divergent premiere!

If you’d like to see all the pictures that I took from the premiere, you can check them out at this link on the official What A Nerd Girl Says facebook page. 

If you’re curious about the song that’s playing in the video, its a song called “Small Talk” by a band that I just discovered last week, Green Light Theory. You can check them out on Facebook. They are trying to get on Warped Tour so what little I can do, I’m trying to do!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to check out my epic Divergent giveaway! You’ll be sorry you missed it!

Thanks for watching guys! Happy Fangirling :)

Divergent: Official Movie Review

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So today, diagnosis I’m at the Divergent World Premiere in Los Angeles. Well, dosage I’m not there right now. I’m writing this so it publishes while I’m there. I won’t be able to blog while I’m there. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram or Tumblr in order to keep up with all the Divergent awesomeness. Here is my review of the movie though!

Divergent

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Official U.S. Release Date: March 21st, 2014

Rated:

Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some sensuality

Directed By:

Neil Burger

Cast:

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Zoe Kravitz, Ashley Judd, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort.

Find the rest on IMDB here.

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she’s Divergent and won’t fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it’s too late.

My Review:

I am literally blown away at how well they did with this movie. While it wasn’t absolutely perfect, I thought they did a wonderful job with it.

^^That was exactly how I started off my Vampire Academy review and I thought it was quite fitting for the review I’m about to do for Divergent. While watching the movie, I was unsure at times if things were being changed or if I just totally needed to re-read the book. I waited until I did a re-read before I did this review because I wanted to make sure that I did this fairly. Now that I’ve read the book again, I can tell you that I love the movie even more than the first time I saw it and I’m so glad that I saw it and I’m literally going to die until I see it again.

I thought they did a wonderful job taking the book and putting it on the big screen. There were a TON of direct quotes from the book (which is always my favorite) and it flowed nicely. There were small things that they cut but I honestly felt like everything was done f or a reason and it really did such great justice to the book. It really captured what it was about, all that fear and uncertainty and the many realizations that Tris comes through while making her journey from Abnegation to Dauntless. I really thought they captured each faction really well too. We really only see Dauntless and Abnegation and a bit of Erudite but so much of it was exactly like I had pictured. I really felt like the world I had gotten to know so well in the books had come to life on screen.

Which brings me to the characters. When all these characters were being cast, there was really only one casting (Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews) that really made me feel comfortable. Of course, I had to see them as the actual characters but I wasn’t sold completely. Well, after seeing the movie, I can’t imagine anyone else playing any of these characters. They all really seemed to understand the person they were playing and portrayed them so well. I was surprised at really seeing Tris and Four and Peter and Caleb and Christina and the rest. I felt that the characters really jumped from the book to the screen. The actors weren’t just portraying characters, they WERE the characters.

I really had fun while watching this movie. The music mixed with the action was absolutely fabulous and I found myself quoting along because there were so many direct quotes from the book. I loved it and I honestly can’t wait to see it again. I saw it about two weeks ago and its already been way too long. I hope that I’ll be able to see it again today at the premiere. Cross my fingers.

I have a lot of hope for this movie. What I really loved about it was that it really highlighted the emotional journeys of these characters but it definitely made sure to capture all the amazing action that is there. I think that’s what can make this a movie that is enjoyable no matter what gender or age. It really has something for everyone, or so I think. I hope that people can get past its “another tween movie” or “another Hunger Games” and really give it a chance because I honestly think it’ll do really well. Its a great book and a great movie and I really hope I can see it again soon!

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars