Teaser Tuesday May 21, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser this week is from A Perfect Romance by Layce Gardner

"Ellen screamed at the room in large, "She's dying!"

 Dana blinked rapidly six times (a multiple of three), then closed her eyes and saw a series of romantic snapshots of a future with Ellen: Sharing spaghetti noodles from the same plate, Lady and the Tramp style; Ellen and Dana freezing to death in the Atlantic Ocean, lying on an ice floe while Rosie O'Donnell's cruise ship sinks in the background; Ellen seated at a pottery wheel while Dana tantalizes her from behind..... "

(32) Thirteen Reasons Why

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Publisher: Razorbill
288 pages
Genre: YA

Synopsis: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Review: What can I say about this book other than WOW. Watching this girls world unfold and knowing how it ends before it even begins is like watching the movie Titanic where you know the boat sinks but you still can't believe it happens in the end. Jay Asher has an amazing ability to get you inside the mind of a suicidal young girl.  This book explores how rumors, judgements and the way we treat others has lasting consequences that we may never see.  It can be considered a cautionary tale, to be careful how you treat others because your actions can have dire consequences.

(31) The Season of Risks

Title: The Season of Risks: An Ethical Vampire Novel by Susan Hubbard
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
286 pages
Genre: YA

Synopsis: Aglow with the promise of her budding friendship with third-party presidential candidate (and closet vampire) Neil Cameron, Ari Montero returns to school frustrated, like most teenagers, that she’s just not old enough—darn it!—to be accepted in grown-up circles. But Ari isn’t like most teenagers. Half human, half vampire, she is destined to remain at the same tender age at which she crossed over. Her desire to achieve instant adulthood leads her to the Miami clinic run by a vampire notorious for his delusions of world domination. There she is injected with a serum that instantly takes her from 15 to 22.

Review: The third book in the Ethical Vampire series.  This series is one of the best new vampire series that I have read. I wouldn't consider this the best book in the series but it did have an interesting storyline.

Ari was 13 when she was turned now she is now in her 15th year although most of her friends believe she is 19 and attending University.  How would you like to be trapped in the same body you had at 13 with the same brain function? Well Ari wasn't thrilled with the idea, so when she learns about a drug that can age her 7 years including brain function she is understandably intrigued.  Of course what starts out as something innocent turns into something disastrous, leading Ari and her family on a roller coaster ride that leaves them in the middle of a political conspiracy with far reaching consequences.

There are a lot of great characters in this series.  My favorite is of course Ari with the new character of Sloan running a close second, I'm hoping that Ms. Hubbard writes some more so we can learn more about these two great characters.

Teaser Tuesday May 14, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 My teaser is from Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

" You needed a name to put down opposite Jessica's. And since everyone at school already had a perverted image of me after Justin's little number, I was the perfect choice, wasn't I?" 

(30) Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight

Title: Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight?: Confessions of a Gay Dad by Dan Bucatinsky
Publisher: Touchstone
256 pages
Genre: biography

Synopsis: In 2005, Dan Bucatinsky and his partner, Don Roos, found themselves in an L.A. delivery room, decked out in disposable scrubs from shower cap to booties, to welcome their adopted baby girl—launching their frantic yet memorable adventures into fatherhood. Two and a half years later, the same birth mother—a heroically generous, pack-a-day teen with a passion for Bridezilla marathons and Mountain Dew—delivered a son into the couple’s arms. In Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? Bucatinsky moves deftly from sidesplitting stories about where kids put their fingers to the realization that his athletic son might just grow up to be straight and finally to a reflection on losing his own father just as he’s becoming one.


Review: Dan has written a funny, revealing book about what it is like to be a new parent.  He talks about his quest to adopt, his disappointment with one failed adoption and his joy at becoming a father, not once but twice thanks to the same woman.  His stories of parenthood are not for everyone - if you don't like kindergarten humor then this might be a book to pass on but if you have kids and know the crazy weird things they come up with to ask or do then you may appreciate his candidness.