Just Around the Corner: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

So when I was sixteen my aunt took me to a Barnes & Noble, gave me 100 bucks, and said "Pick what ya want!" A book lovers dream!
I found my way to the YA station and stayed there for at least an hour! Later that day I came home with six books (I never spent the whole $100, something I regret) and one of those six so happened to be called "Just Listen" by Sarah Dessen.
I believe I read this book in a day and a half (up to this point I had never read a book so fast!). It was wonderful, real, sad, funny and so relatable, even if you didn't go through Annabel's exact situation you could definitely identify with any one of these characters in this book.
I admit I was not familiar with the author *sad face* (I picked it for the cover because my love for music is just as big) but that is something I have since then rectified! Because have found and read I'm sure everything she has written. Now I will say that Mrs. Dessen does have a certain formula to her books, to say what it is would spoil the stories, but it is one I that I so much love.
My awesome friend Emo once said in reference to Sarah Dessen's wonderful books,
"They remind me of summer!"
And I could not agree more and cannot wait for her new summer book "The Moon and More" to be released June 4, 2013 by publisher Viking Juvenile. I know this one will be as near to my heart as her others! The Blurb and cover are below:


Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.

Find it at:
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen @ Amazon.com
                                                   



Also mentioned in this post:

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen @ Amazon.com

When Annabel, the youngest of three beautiful sisters, has a bitter falling out with her best friend—the popular and exciting Sophie—she suddenly finds herself isolated and friendless. but then she meets Owen—a loner, passionate about music and his weekly radio show, and always determined to tell the truth. And when they develop a friendship, Annabel is not only introduced to new music but is encouraged to listen to her own inner voice. with owen’s help, can Annabel find the courage to speak out about what exactly happened the night her friendship with Sophie came to a screeching halt?

 

A Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

(The Blurb)

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail,his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

Okay so two things.
Firstly I would like to say: GUSH!!
Secondly, I am a product of the 90's so when I heard about this book and that it was set in 1996 I figured  I would have ZERO trouble connecting with the story. So very glad that was true. I thoroughly enjoyed The Future of Us. The idea that these two characters could connect to the Internet (dial-up GRRR!) and automatically be logged onto their Facebook page nearly twenty years into the future is such a clever and intriguing idea (especially in today's society where media and technology practically rule). I definitely have to give a round of applause to the authors for their truly original and unique (BRILLIANT!) idea! Now to the characters!
I really liked/loved the protags and their sidekicks. I will say that I think me liked Josh just a smidgen more than Emma. She makes some kind of, if not questionable than at least, selfish choices, but that being said I completely understand her plight.
I mean having access to their futures like that and knowing that any major decision made could somehow shift you entire future leading them to happiness and even sometimes unhappiness, is a lot to take on. The book just begs to asks the question, just like the main characters do, if you could see how your life turns out while your still young, a teenager, would you stay on this path even if it means unhappiness? Would you try to change it even if it affects the people surrounding you? And if you did try to change it should you?
Wow! I just love this story and concept and I definitely recommend this book to readers of young and old (gosh I hate using old how about delicately aged??).

                                                                        My Rating:
                                                           

This book was published October 16, 2012 by Razorbill
The Future of Us @ Amazon.com

.......What I've Purchased This Week........:

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

The book cover's and publishers blurb are below:
(Click the links above to go to Amazon.com)


There is no cure for being stung.

Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered—her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right hand—a black oval with five marks on either side—that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. She’s right.

Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded while a select few live protected inside a fortress-like wall, their lives devoted to rebuilding society and killing all who bear the mark.

Now Fiona has awakened branded, alone—and on the wrong side of the wall.

(this sounded way too exciting and I can't wait to read it, review will come shortly...)

and ALSO:

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver and Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush will relish this intense paranormal love story featuring Romeo and Juliet, literary history's most tragic couple, who meet again, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.
The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

(Okay I've been eyeballing this one for, like, 2 months now and finally decided to buy it to give it a try so far not disappointed. Stacey Jay does a fantastic job of creating a fresh new take on one of the most tragic love stories of all time, but that's all I can say now full review to come soon! Yay!)

Emo & Jes E-Book Talk Tuesday: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

From: Emo
To: Jes
Subject: Warm Bodies is actually a really funny book......


If you skip the throat ripping, brain eating and body crushing parts, it really is very eloquent and has hilarious, dry humor.

I like to think R is noble. Even if he does eat brains.
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From: Jes
To: Emo
Subject: RE: Warm Bodies is actually a really funny book......

Great now I'll have to read it, maybe I wasn't in a reading mood when I read the sample. But a girl falling in love with a zombie is kind of strange?
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From: Emo
To: Jes
Subject: RE: Warm Bodies is actually a really funny book......

Girl I don't know. But reading from the perspective of a zombie as he falls in love with the girl is sooo much stranger. Considering he is married to another zombie with zombie children even stranger.

And no I didn't give anything away....You learn that by, like, page 15. I just wanted to share the strangeness. ;)
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From: Jes
To: Emo
Subject: RE: Warm Bodies is actually a really funny book......

Woah what? I hate cheaters dead or alive
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From: Emo
To: Jes
Subject: RE: Warm Bodies is actually a really funny book......

Hahaha!! Yeah... I have no idea what happened. I'm not sure he meant to marry the zombie chick. It all happened so fast, ya know? Or at least that's his story. Hehehe!

Check it out Warm Bodies @ Amazon.com