November Top 5

It's the holiday season! I'm already getting into the lazy - I just want to bake cookies and read all day - mindset. November has been another slow reading month for me, but I'm nearing the end of the semester so my pile of books I need to catch up on are stacking up. I can't wait until I can get through all the books I've been meaning to read. But first - my top reads in November! 

1. Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino

I'm all kinds of in love with this book. It's a gorgeous story that still gets me all worked up and agitated in the best way possible. Read my full review here and then go read it. Seriously, read it now. 

2. Cress by Marissa Meyer

This is one of the handful of series that is prominent in my heart right now. It's amazing how Marissa Meyer takes a crazy concept and makes it so complex, so large, and so plausible. It's just the most impressive thing. And Cress was the perfect addition to the group of fairy-tale inspired heroes tasked with saving Earth. 

3. Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally

I just get the warm-fuzzies when I read Miranda Kenneally. Racing Savannah comes in second only to Catching Jordan in the Hundred Oaks series. Read my full review here. 

4. A Little Too Much by Lisa Desrochers

Another great new adult from Lisa! I was a little apprehensive about where Alessandro's story would go, but I was delighted when it brought us to Hilary and the wonders of New York. She's just killin' it in the NA world right now. My full review is here. 

5. All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

I read this one at the insistence of my roommate who has impeccable and hard-to-please taste in books and it was just so impressive. I don't know how Cristin pulled off writing two different characters who are the same person, but it was a great idea. Plus, I always love books about time travel that don't make me feel like an idiot for getting confused about time travel. 

What were your top reads this month? 

Book Blitz: Stim by Kevin Berry

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About the Book

Stim by Kevin Berry 

Publication date: October 16th 2013

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

Robert is different. He has Asperger’s Syndrome. He experiences the world differently to 99% of the population. Follow his entertaining and highly empathetic story as he struggles to realise and accept who he really is, try to understand other people—which he cannot—and find a girlfriend. Especially find a girlfriend—he’s decided it’s his special project for the year. Accompanied on this transformative journey by his quirky flatmates, Chloe (who also has Asperger’s, amongst other things), Stef (who hasn’t, but doesn’t mind) and their oddly-named kitten, Robert endures a myriad of awkward moments in his quest to meet a nice, normal girl…and not even a major earthquake will stop him.

This absorbing and humorous story is starkly told from Robert’s point of view, through the kaleidoscope of autistic experience.

Book Links: Goodreads :: Amazon :: B&N :: Smashwords

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Excerpt from Stim, Chapter 4, Diary entry

There is a well-known equation, known as the Drake Equation, that is used to estimate the number of detectable, sentient, communicative races in the galaxy (besides us, if we consider ourselves as one of them). It works (or does not work, according to its critics) by guessing the value of a lot of variables, such as the fraction of stars which have planets, and the fraction of planets which develop intelligent life, amongst other things, and multiplying them all together. Depending on the values chosen, the equation produces a number between zero (we are alone in our galaxy) to billions (we have lots of intelligent neighbours in the galaxy).

I decided to modify this equation to estimate the number of potential girlfriends for me in Christchurch. Here is my Girlfriend Equation, for a Scientifically Calculated Reckoning of Eligible Women (or SCREW score):

G = P . fw . fa . fi . fs . fp . fr . fh . fg

where

G = the number of potential girlfriends for me in Christchurch;

P = the population of Christchurch, which is about 400,000 (I am not interested in a long-distance relationship, so I am restricting this variable to my home city);

fw = the fraction of the population made up of women, which is about 50% (I am not interested in a gay relationship, so I will calculate for females only);

fa = the fraction of the above women within one year either side of my own age, so aged about 18-20, which I estimate at about 5% (I do not want to date a schoolgirl, and women aged 21 or over will surely be too sophisticated for me);

fi = the fraction of the above women who are highly intelligent, say with an IQ within the top 5%, which is (obviously) a certain 5% (because we must be able to talk to each other at approximately the same level);

fs = the fraction of the above women who are currently single, which I…um…guess is about 50% (I do not want to date someone already dating someone else, as I do not want to get involved in threesomes or a trinogamous relationship);

fp = the fraction of the above women who I find physically attractive, which is…er…about 10%, at a guess. I do not know exactly (I think physical attractiveness is probably quite important for the sex aspect of the relationship);

fr = the fraction of the above women who reciprocally find me physically attractive, which is even more difficult to estimate…so about 20%, at a guess (yes, this is double the percentage I estimated I find attractive, but I am not unhandsome, you know);

fh = the fraction of the above women who I will like hanging out with, which I estimate at 100% (I am sure I would like hanging out with an attractive woman, and I am quite easy-going);

fg = the fraction of the above women who will get along with me and tolerate my Aspie ways… Hmm, hard to estimate… I will be generous and guess 20% (most women are likely to consider me too weird to go out with, as Chloe told me).

Treating all of the above as independent variables, which is maybe a little questionable as some of them are probably correlated, I plugged all of the values into the equation, which became:

G = 400000 x 0.5 x 0.05 x 0.05 x 0.5 x 0.1 x 0.2 x 1.0 x 0.2

Multiplying everything together, this equation of somewhat dubious credibility results in:

G = 1

That is it. I have calculated there is one unattached, intelligent woman of about my age in Christchurch who I will find physically attractive and who will find me physically attractive, and enjoy hanging out with. One.

Where is she?

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About the Author

Kevin Berry is an indie author. His particular niche is writing Aspie New Adult contemporary novels set in an earthquake zone. The first of these is STIM, published in October 2013.

His first novels, co-written with Diane Berry, are Dragons Away!, Growing Disenchantments and Fountain of Forever (humorous fantasy). These are available as paperbacks and ebooks at Amazon and elsewhere.

Find Kevin Online: Website :: Twitter :: Goodreads

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Racing Savannah - Miranda Kenneally

Synopsis: They’re from two different worlds.
He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.
With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

Miranda Kenneally keeps winning me over with every new book she writes. I love that she’s created her own community that has these strong, confident, and fun girls who each have experiences that are empowering. I also think it’s great that she keeps me guessing. She’s not writing to a formula and she’s not doing what’s expected, so it’s fresh contemporary that ultimately just leaves me totally happy. And Savannah’s story has this kind of glow around it that draws you in. 

I’ve been digging all the horse books that seem to be surfacing right now. The horses really become their own characters and it reminds me of how badly I wanted a horse when I was younger. They take a lot of care, so when you have characters who are into horses, they naturally seem more responsible, likeable, and strong than your average character. Savannah is particularly admirable. She just has a good head on her shoulders. I think it’s great that she has some pretty realistic dreams outside of going to college – although college is still in the mix of possibilities. But mostly, I just think it’s awesome how she demands to be treated well. She doesn’t let anyone treat her less than she is and it’s amazing. 

Which brings me to Jack, who could have easily been another spoiled rich kid, but instead he’s hard-working and he doesn’t shy away from making big decisions. He’s asked to take on a lot of responsibility for a teenager and I think he handles it awesomely. Even when I wanted to smack him sometimes, I just adored him and the way his relationship with Savannah unfolded. It seems like a bad idea for them to be together, but you have to love when they go there anyway. 

Also – Corndog’s little brother is a main character in Savannah’s story, which is just awesome. He’s pretty fantastic. I just have to say that it’s wonderful that these books are so jam-packed with great friendships. And then we get glimpses into what’s become of Jordan, Parker, and Kate Kelly which just makes me so giddy. (Although, in a certain instance Miranda drops a bomb about Jordan and Sam Henry, then doesn’t really explain. I’m still hung up on – what happened between them!) But there’s a really great moment where they all come together again and it just makes me giddy. 

Miranda totally killed it with Racing Savannah. Although, Catching Jordan will always have a special place in my heart, she just keeps getting better and better. She’s definitely a must read author for me and I’m so excited for what she’ll write for us next.

Cover Reveal: A Little Too Hot by Lisa Desrochers

About the Book 

From USA Today bestselling author Lisa Desrochers, comes the third book in her sizzling New Adult series. 

 If you play with fire… 

 Tossed out of college and cut off by her parents, Samantha West is in pretty dire straits. So when her rocker best friend hooks her up with a job dancing at a gentlemen’s club, who is she to turn it down? Plus, there are rules to dancing at Benny’s: No touching, keep your clothes on at all times, and never get closer than three feet. Unfortunately for Sam, her first private client makes her want to break every single one of them. 

 Harrison Yates is scorching hot, but he’s got a past that involves being left at the altar not too long ago. Sam is determined to make him forget about his ex, but when she makes her move, it flings her life into a spiral of chaos she never saw coming. Because Harrison Yates isn’t who he seems to be. And his secret will probably get her killed. 

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Girl with Guitar - Caisey Quinn

Synopsis: After Kylie’s dad dies in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy step-mother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville determined to make her late father’s dreams come true. Waitressing and saving her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music superstar Trace Corbin. But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.

Country music. Country bad boy. Yup, this is my kind of book. I moved to New York, but I grew up in the middle of nowhere and I miss country radio more than anything. So naturally I got really excited about the music and the country boy – which seems actually quite rare to come by in new adult. Even though Trace is living pretty lavishly, he has country in his roots and I adore him for that. This is definitely one of those stories that it’d be pretty great to live in. 

Kylie is a strong and spunky heroine and you have to admire her for going so fearlessly after her dreams. She almost has a Cinderella thing happening after her dad dies and her evil stepmom kicks  her out, then her lofty dreams start coming true. And if Trace is her version of a prince…well, then that’s the kind of Cinderella story I can actually get on board with. 

Trace is pretty much a salvageable train wreck. I know you’re not supposed to want to go in and fix other people, but the fact that he’s fixable is what makes him worth the time. Because if he wasn’t, he’d just be a slightly-alcoholic, inconsiderate, privileged dude on a downward spiral. But it turns out Kylie is the one who can find the perfect balances in Trace – he’s pretty bitter through most of the book, but he’s also really sweet. But in everything he does, he’s really intense and committed, which is what makes him such a strong male lead. 

There’s plenty of melodrama in this story, a lot of it seems to fall into a predictable pattern – it completely follows a rom-com projection, but I was really okay with it because the ride is enjoyable. This is the first book I’ve read from Caisey Quinn, and I’m going to keep reading her books because while she has a lot of room to grow as a writer, she can get me all wrapped up in the characters. Really, I’ll give anything with a good country boy a try, and she has that part down for sure.   

Cover Reveal: Seeking Her by Cora Carmack

ABOUT SEEKING HER by Cora Carmack 

A few months after being honorably discharged from the military, Jackson Hunt is still struggling to adjust back to the real world. He needs to get a job and find a sense of normalcy if he’s going to keep his own demons at bay. The job that falls into his lap, though, is anything but normal. 

 Bodyguard (and baby-sitter) to spoiled-rich-girl Kelsey Summers isn’t exactly what he’d been looking for, but it’s a chance to travel, to get away from the home that has felt stifling ever since his return. It would be a pretty sweet gig if it weren’t for the fact that Kelsey’s father doesn’t want Kelsey to know she’s being followed. Hunt feels guilty (and a little bit creepy) as he watches her from afar. She’s vibrant and infuriating, exciting and reckless, mysterious and familiar. When he sees her falling into the same patterns that he suffered years ago, he decides it’s time to stop watching and help her instead. But getting to know her is more difficult than he thought, especially because the more he knows her,

the more he wants her.

Sweet Thing - Renee Carlino

Synopsis: Mia Kelly thinks she has it all figured out. She's an Ivy League graduate, a classically trained pianist, and the beloved daughter of a sensible mother and offbeat father. Yet Mia has been stalling since graduation, torn between putting her business degree to use and exploring music, her true love.
When her father unexpectedly dies, she decides to pick up the threads of his life while she figures out her own. Uprooting herself from Ann Arbor to New York City, Mia takes over her father's café, a treasured neighborhood institution that plays host to undiscovered musicians and artists. She's denied herself the thrilling and unpredictable life of a musician, but a chance encounter with Will, a sweet, gorgeous, and charming guitarist, offers her a glimpse of what could be. When Will becomes her friend and then her roommate, she does everything in her power to suppress her passions-for him, for music-but her father's legacy slowly opens her heart to the possibility of something more.

It’s been too long since a book totally engulfed me the way Sweet Thing did. Renee Carlino just transports you to the East Village in New York where it’s easy to fall in love with the people, the music, and the artistry that shape the city. From the writing to the setting to the relationships, everything about this book is gorgeous. The story itself is even set up in its own frame, giving you context and a window into a different life that serves as its own piece of art. But even better than its beauty, is the way these characters just drove me crazy in the best way possible.

Heroines who have a cynical view of love are just easier for me to relate to. Still, Mia’s practical view of love and relationships was maddening. It got to the point where almost everything out of her mouth made me want to throw the book out the window. But then…I stopped a moment and realized that I would say the same thing, or I would have made the same decision, or I would have totally ran in the other direction, too. And that was the moment where this book just totally won me over. Because I was so invested and Mia was so in my head that I didn’t even realize how it turned a mirror on my own life.

Honestly, I haven’t been so caught up in the drama of two characters that can’t seem to figure things out since Travis and Abby in Beautiful Disaster. But where Travis makes a point to be a part of Abby’s life, Will just shows up for Mia at exactly the right time and lets the universe do the rest. Will’s patience and kindness is so refreshing; I don’t know that a good boy has ever made me so crazy before. Will is probably the ideal man: he’s artistic, he’s smart, and life just seems to flow more vibrantly through his presence.

I’ll say this over and over again. I adore stories where best friends fall in love. It’s so much more real and exciting to me than love at first sight stories or the stories that turn from just-fun to serious. There’s something exciting about being the one person who knows all the history, habits, and passions of someone important to you. And then to realize you love all of those things that make that person who he/she is, is probably the most powerful feeling. This is the kind of relationship Mia and Will have, although she fights it every step of the way. I love that we get to witness their friendship and how they come to know each other. I love that she knows what he needs and he knows when she needs him. It’s amazing.

This book is borderline New Adult, in my opinion. The characters are a little older than I would generally like them to be when reading NA. Mia is 25 and just out of college, which kind of marks that NA divider. However, this book explores a lot of the questions that surround the NA age group. Mia is really figuring out what she wants out of life and what it means to choose security over love. She also gets a good dose of the consequences of making decisions based on reason over passion. She’s still really finding her way and building a life for herself.

Sweet Thing came along at the perfect time in my life and I’m just enamored with it. It has an ideal blend of realism and romantic storytelling that makes it stand out from the other books in the genre. I’m going to keep this one on my shelves for a long time and hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to revisit these characters often. I’m crazy in love with this book.

Release Day Blitz: For Real by Chelsea Cameron

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About the Book

Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong? 

When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.

But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?

Buy Links: Amazon :: B&N

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Teaser

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Excerpt

“Wake up, princess,” a male voice I only sort-of recognize says in my ear. My eyes are slow to open and I’m staring right at a chest I don’t remember falling asleep on. I lift my chin and meet a set of gorgeous brown-gold eyes. 

“Hey,” he says, his voice soft as I realize I’m lying on top of him. At some point during the movie, he’d shifted under me and brought both our sets of legs up on the couch and laid back, pulling me so we’re front to front. My boobs are completely squished into his chest, which is the first thing that makes me try to shift off him. 

“Um, hey,” I say as I struggle to get off him, but there’s no place to put my hands, so I end up trying to roll and he tries to help me, but I end up tipping too far off the couch, banging the back of my head on the coffee table and landing on my side on the floor with a crash. 

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Is he laughing? 

“Ow,” I say. I’m awake now. There’s a sharp pain in my hip, and in my skull. Jett reaches down and hauls me up. 

“You’re laughing at me,” I say as I feel the back of my head. 

“No I’m not,” he says, while trying to contain his laughter. 

“Asshole,” I say, but he’s still holding onto me. 

“Where does it hurt?” he says, finally showing some concern. 

“The back of my head and my hip banged on the floor. That’s gonna leave a mark.” He walks around me and tenderly moves my hair out of the way to look at my soon-to-be-bumpy head. I go all tingly again, and the pain fades just a little. This guy is better than Tylenol. And then I feel something warm right where the bump is and I swear her just kissed it. 

“And your hip?” he says, his voice low. 

Is it possible to die from anticipation? Because I think I just did. Jett crouches down and I swear I’m going to have a seizure if he does what I think he’s going to do. 

And then he very carefully places the lightest of kisses on my hipbone and OH MY GOD I SWEAR I CAN FEEL HIS LIPS THROUGH MY JEANS AND I’M GOING TO DIE NOW.

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About the Author

Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Her New Adult Contemporary Romance titles include My Favorite Mistake, which has been bought by Harlequin along with a sequel, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn (April 20, 2013)

Her Young Adult books include Nocturnal, Nightmare and Neither, the first three books in The Noctalis Chronicles. The fourth and final book, Neverend will be out in 2013. Whisper, the first in The Whisper Trilogy is also available, with the second book in the series, Silence and the final book, LIsten coming out in 2014.
Find Chelsea Online: Website :: Twitter :: Facebook :: Goodreads

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Giveaway

Grand prize winner receives a $100 Amazon Gift Card and Crane bracelet. 5 Runners up receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card and Crane bracelet. US Only! 

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