Giveaway: Win a Signed Copy of The Maze Runner!

September 19, 2014September 19, 201430 Comments

Happy Release Day to The Maze Runner!

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this movie for quite some time, rx and was able to see it last night at the 10 pm showing and I’m SO blown away by it. As much as I enjoyed the book, I think the world that James Dashner created exploded even more on screen and it was just brilliant. Great casting, great effects…I could go on for ages but I’ll save that for later in my review of the movie!

Now, unfortunately there was no Hollywood premiere for the movie so I was unable to meet any of the cast for the movie.

BUT!

Fear not, my dear followers! I promised to have a Maze Runner giveaway and I have not failed you.

Think about this: this movie would not exist without the awesome writing and creativity and world building of one James Dashner. He’s the brains behind this operation and he’s honestly just brilliant to meet in person too.

So here’s the prize!

One Copy of The Maze Runner signed by author, James Dashner!

The Rules (yes, there has to be rules!)

The contest will run from today, September 19th to October 1st!

The winner will be contacted within 24 hours of contest end. If winner(s) do not respond within a 24 hour period of contact, their prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be chosen.

Come back every day to share on Twitter and Instagram to earn more entries!

If you check off an option on the rafflecopter, please make sure that you have fulfilled that option. Please be honest! I double check every winning entry and if you are dishonest, you will not win the prize!

This giveaway is in NO way endorsed by any authors, their publishers, the movie studios or any other affiliates.

What A Nerd Girl Says is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged prizes. It HAS happened before, but only once!

How to Enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*****

Good luck!

Don’t forget! Get to those theaters and see the movie! YA movies depend on every ticket sold to do successful in order for sequels to have so go see the movie and see it again and tell your friends all about it!

Book Review: I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre

August 30, 20141 Comment

Genre:

New Adult, there Romance

Pages:

352

Part of a Series?:

First in the Series

Release Date:

August 26th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Nadia Conrad has big dreams, and she’s determined to make them come true—for her parents’ sake as well as her own. But between maintaining her college scholarship and working at the local day care to support herself, she barely has time to think, let alone date. Then she moves into a new apartment and meets the taciturn yet irresistible guy in 1B….

Daniel Tyler has grown up too fast. Becoming a single dad at twenty turned his life upside down—and brought him heartache he can’t risk again. Now, as he raises his four-year-old son while balancing a full-time construction management job and night classes, a social life is out of the question. The last thing he wants is for four noisy students to move into the apartment upstairs. But one night, Nadia’s and Ty’s paths cross, and soon they can’t stay away from each other.

The timing is all wrong—but love happens when it happens. And you can’t know what you truly need until you stand to lose it.

My Review:

I knew, immediately, when Ann Aguirre announced that she’d be releasing a New Adult series this summer with the titles “I Want It That Way”, “As Long as You Love Me” and “Shape of My Heart”, I just had to read it. I mean, come on, the titles are Backstreet Boys’ songs! Beautiful. Plus Ann is such a sweetheart and I want to read more New Adult novels.

I think the most difficult part of reading this novel for me is that new adult and romance are not what I read. I had to remind myself quite often that its a romance novel, so plot points were SUPPOSED to be like that. I mostly read novels where romance is just one of many facets. I kind of liked that this was a learning experience for me. I told myself I would branch out this year and I really am trying to do that.

Once I was able to really understand and approach the book the right way, different from most of the books I usually read, I really enjoyed it. I still think romance isn’t quite my thing but I think I’m open to reading it more often.

Nadia is the first character in awhile, besides Cath in Fangirl, that I really felt an instant connection to and I think that’s because she’s older. I always feel a connection to the characters I enjoy reading but usually they are teenagers and there are some things I’m dealing with in my own life that are so different than a teenagers: college, midterms, jobs, careers, bills, falling in love in a complicated way. Nadia lives such a normal college life, and so it felt so familiar and easy to read her story. I think the rest of the story became so easy to me because of the connection I made with Nadia from page one.

Especially since she drops a couch and rips her jeans on the first page. That completely sounds like something I would do.

But the story of Nadia and Ty is really beautiful, and I think I loved it so much because of the involvement of Ty’s child. It was hard enough dealing with the complications of Nadia and Ty trying to make their romance work, but throwing in the addition of a child just throws everything through a loop. But despite that, I really spent most of my time in the book slowly falling in love with Ty and slowing falling in love with the little boy too.

Plus, there are some seriously fun and good steamy scenes in there. I think there’s a fine art to writing a really GOOD steamy scene and I think Ann has that down so easily. All the scenes felt right and not just there to add more steam (I hate that), and they made me blush, which is always fun while reading. It enhanced the romance between the two main characters, which I loved, and it wasn’t steamy just for the sake of that.

Bottom line, great beginning to the series. I loved that it left off on the two characters that are going to be featured in the next book, enough so that you will be curious and want to read the rest of the series. I definitely can’t wait for the release of the next book!

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: 100 Sideways Miles (ARC) by Andrew Smith

August 29, 2014August 23, 2019Leave a comment

Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minutes. It’s how he makes sense of the world, and how he tries to convince himself that he’s a real boy and not just a character in his father’s bestselling cult-classic book. Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he’s ever loved.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Love and Other Unknown Variables (ARC) by Shannon Alexander

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014Leave a comment

This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy of the novel obtained through NetGalley at the permission of Entangled Publications. This is in no way had an effect on the integrity of my review. Please note that published novel will differ from this ARC.

Genre:

Young Adult, visit web Contemporary Fiction

Pages:

352

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

October 7th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he’ll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe’s greatest unanswered questions. He’s that smart. But Charlie’s future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl’s neck.

The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she’s counting on the present. She’s not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop—until she learns he’s a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy.

By the time he learns she’s ill—and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte’s illness—Charlotte’s gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he’s always relied on or the girl he’s falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared).

My Review:

When I saw this title on edelweiss, it immediately caused me to pause. Math things like that always kind of catch my eye because my boyfriend has a bachelors degree in math and he actually likes reading books about math. For fun. I know, he’s weird. But by extension, math things catch my eye too now. Not because I particularly love math but it reminds me of him. I also saw that it was an Entangled publication and immediately hit request. I love Entangled to death.

I love the characters so much. I think characters are the most important part of a novel and that is exactly what brings me into this book. Charlie and Charlotte both seem incredibly real to me. Charlie especially so because even though he’s kind of too smart for his own good and it almost gets irritating, he’s also incredibly genuine. He can figure out these weird crazy math problems but…he can’t figure out how to act around a girl, and he’s still a total teenager. I love that. I also love Charlotte because she’s full of life and full of sass and literally brightens up a room, which is why finding out she’s so ill is such a damper. Seriously. I was like, oh come on, but she’s awesome, she can’t be sick!

What really caught me in this book is that it could just run into other books. Romance is not new. Cancer is not new. Kids with cancer with romance laced into it is definitely not new (The Fault in Our Stars anyone?) What easily could have been a book that I tossed aside because of a simple “been there, done that” was actually proven quite wrong when I pushed past the revelation of Charlotte’s illness and kept reading.

Because there’s so much more to the book. The book is centered on Charlie and while his romance with Charlotte is incredibly important, its also the effect that she has on the rest of his life. She shows him the beauty of other things besides math and science. She unintentionally brings him to his elderly neighborhood, who teaches him so much and leaves an incredible impact on his life. She brings him to her sister, his literature teacher, and helps him develop a new love for reading. And she also brings him closer to his own sister. I think that’s the biggest part of the book that I love. This book could be wrapped up simply as a book about kids with cancer but its so much more than that. Its a book about how much a person can impact our lives in such a short amount of time and how beautiful and sometimes incredibly devastating it is.

Plus, its just funny. I related to Charlotte so much and Charlie reminded me of my boyfriend and their initial runaround each other is just so sweet and believable. They kind of fumble their way through their friendship and more and I loved it. It was more than just about everything going on around them. Their romance was sweet, genuine and addicting and I was rooting for them the entire book.

Basically, it comes down to this: I stayed up until 2 am to finish reading this book. And I had to read it on my phone because my Nook wasn’t charged…which is NO easy feat. But I super enjoyed it and I’m anxious for it to be published so that I can share it with others. It hits bookstores in early October so make sure to get your hands on a copy!

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Rating:

Movie Review: If I Stay

August 25, 20141 Comment

If I Stay

Official U.S. Release Date: August 22nd, find 2014

Rated:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some sexual material

Directed By:

R.J. Cutler

Cast:

Chloe Grace Moretz, this Jamie Blackley, Liana Liberato, Joshua Leonard, Jakob Davies, Mireille Enos

Find the rest on IMDB here.

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

Mia Hall thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Juilliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam. But what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, which will not only decide her future but her ultimate fate.

My Review:

The thing about contemporary novels is that a huge part of what they are is based on emotions. They don’t have the constant action that usually comes hand in hand with a science fiction, fantasy or dystopian novel. They literally have to carry the entire book with emotion, whether good or bad. If I Stay is perfect at doing that…and I had hoped so much that this emotional journey would carry over to the movie.

I was so please to find that it did.

First off, just a shout out in general for making a movie that actually is a good representative of the book. I had just recently reread the book a few days before seeing the movie so it was completely fresh in my mind and I loved recognizing so many scenes in the book. They really made sure to get all of them. Some were tweaked a bit but that was okay, because it made sense for the movie. But they really did a great job at adapting and I don’t often say that.

But what made me so incredibly happy is that I felt the same emotions when watching the movie as I did with reading the book. That book is an absolute emotional roller coaster. One minute, I’m laughing and the next, my heart is racing and I’m envious of the romance between Mia and Adam, and the next, I’m literally sobbing in the middle of the theater. All the characters in the movie felt so real, so genuine that it was so easy to connect with them and believe in their story.

If you’ve read the books, you know that the accident, the loss of her parents, even the loss of her brother, comes very fast and yet, you feel that pain. You connect with all of them so fast, and they accomplish that in the movie as well. But what is absolutely beautiful about it is that the flashbacks make you fall in love with the characters even more, so you’re torn between feeling the happiness at getting to know this extraordinary family and the gut wrenching sadness at the fact that they are already gone. The movie does that, and every flashback is so painful and you know why its so hard for her to stay. Every person who was cast, was cast so perfectly for the role. They played the perfect rocker parents, the little brother, the best friend, the boyfriend, they all did. It was incredible how much I believed every single one of them was that character.

But I think what really makes this movie stand out so much is the music. The music is something that we need to picture ourselves in the book, something that we have to imagine, but in the movie, the music is a character all on its own and I’m just so blown away by that. The music is there through all the emotions, the sadness, the joy, the love, family, friendship, loss, all of it, comes through in that. Music is magical that way and I think having the music that is so central in the book in the movie just makes it that much better. It captures the very essence of the film.

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

August 15, 2014August 12, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

Adult Contemporary Fiction

Pages:

310

Part of a Series?:

Standalone

Release Date:

July 8th, drugs 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Review:

I told myself that in the year of 2014, I would read more adult books. Now…I’ve struggled with that but I knew that when Landline came out, I had to read it. There were no ifs, ands or buts. I think Rainbow Rowell is an absolutely fantastic writer, and I knew I had to read this book.

And this book is INCREDIBLE. I don’t think its for everyone, and I don’t think its for everyone who reads my blog. This book is about the deep emotional journey of a long term relationship, and I don’t think that’s something that everyone who reads this blog can relate to. I know a lot of you are young so this may not be the book for you. And that’s okay, put it on your “to-read” for the future. Its a wonderful book, but not for the YA readers that tend to read my blog.

But that being said, Rainbow Rowell made me cry so much while reading this book. This is not a particularly sad book and the ending is not heartbreaking or sad but she has a way of writing a relationship that feels so real. Like when I read “Fangirl”, there were so many moments when I just wanted to scream “Yes! Yes, exactly. You know exactly how I feel.” She writes so real, so genuinely and in such a familiar way, that its easy to get caught up in the stories of this characters.

Georgie and Neal have been together for quite a long time and their marriage, their relationship, is showing that strain. They hardly see each other, the affection seems to be gone, and its a daily struggle to keep their relationship going. When Georgie somehow is able to dial into the past and talk to Neal as she knew him in the beginning of their relationship, she remembers all the things she loves about Neal and the reasons they’ve been together for so long, no matter the bad. And its so true, and real to a relationship. There’s up and downs, and struggles and there are things that bring you down and sometimes you don’t think that you can pull yourself up. Its not always love and rainbows and butterflies. Relationships are hard work and she completely captures that in this novel.

But what she also captures is the hope as well. Yes, there are hard times. Yes, there are times when you’re struggling to keep it together and you’re not sure if you can keep fighting the fight and you wonder if you should just let it go, but then there’s hope too. There are reasons you got together, reasons you love each other, and you have to remember those to push through those hard times. She gives the reader hope, hope in all their relationships and I really love that.

What makes this a great novel is that its a very human story. Its not necessary full of action or a ton of plot but its full of character development and love and friendship and struggle and hard work. Its all told in the story of these two people and their relationship and their fight to keep it together. She makes it so real and so relatable and if you’ve ever experienced anything like this in your life, its going to touch you in so many ways. I found myself crying because it felt good to know that I wasn’t the only person in the world who felt these struggles or felt these emotions and even though its fictional, it helped me to not feel so alone.