Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

I was in the middle of a few fantasy novels when I picked up this book. It had been sitting in my kindle for a while now and I decided I needed a break from magic. Well, I failed myself there because damned if this book isn't magic. This is my very first taste of David Levithan's writing style and wow was I not disappointed. He had been recommended by more than one trusted reviewer and now I wish I hadn't waited so long to dive in. 

The book follows a few characters and at first it was a tad difficult to keep track. After a couple chapters though everyone had such different stories it became easy to differentiate. In addition, there is the narration by the "greek chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS" which again takes some getting used to. Aside from the initial style shock, this book was filled with wonderful and I flew through it. David Levithan has the ability to make you feel all the feelings with the beautiful language in this book. 

Highly recommended if your looking to add more LGBTQ representation to your shelves. I will say that as a straight woman there were plenty of moments where I felt the I am not the target audience vibes but in many ways that adds to the appeal. I don't seek out only books that are about people exactly like me (goodness know I would never read were that the case) and neither should anyone. 

Let me know if you've read this book or have it on your wish list in the comments!

Review Time: Eon by Alison Goodman

This book was an amazing pick for me because: 

• Great main character
• Complex characters with interesting back stories
• Fascinating world building and mythology

Waiting on Wednesday!!

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spines\

This is my first Waiting on Wednesday and I clearly went for the obvious choice. City of Heavenly Fire is without a doubt the most talked about YA release of 2014. The hype on this fantasy series has been unreal the past few months. It's a fun fandom and I like being a part of all their craziness when I can. There are plenty of new releases this year, but darn it I'm excited most about this one! Plus with this beautiful cover just being released yesterday I couldn't resist talking about it. My anticipation for this release is surprisingly genuine. This series as a whole has been a mix of ups and downs for me. At least one of the books I hated, but others kept me up all night. The fantasy elements and Magnus Bane always keep me running back for more.I am so ready to marathon the last two books of this series and finally know all of the things.Hope your excited for this one too! Let me know :) 

Release Date: May 27, 4014

Review Time!! Gone by Michael Grant

(From Goodreads)

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

Initial Thoughts:

• This was a bit of a slow start for me, and it took me much longer to finish than my norm. 
• I found some of things rather cheesy and it made it hard to read.
• The whole no adults in the world now what's going to happen has been told many times so I was worried it would be boring.

Things I Liked:

• I really enjoyed the different character perspectives in this book! Sometimes that can be very overwhelming, but it totally worked here. Being able to see the story from different characters eyes allowed me to understand what was going on in the entire city. There are some moments when the main protagonist are not in the city and so it would have been very frustrating to just not know what was happening there.
• The writing style did take me awhile to get into, but in the end I enjoyed it. Michael Grant has a certain way of writing that makes you feel like it's a movie. He gives a lot of kind of aerial views of Perdido Beach and the different settings that felt cinematic to me. It was very different from the types of things I have been reading this year! Also each chapter is labeled by a countdown of hours and that was a total anticipation builder while reading.
• Sam, the male protagonist, was a sweetheart. I like that he was an natural hero/leader who really just wanted to be a normal kid freaking out with the rest of them. He grew so much throughout the book  and I was cheering him on the whole way. Overall, the all character development in this book was awesome, and that is saying something considering the amount of characters we meet!

Some Criticisms:

• I mentioned this in my initial thought, and it was kind of a big thing for me. Sometimes things just felt sooooo cheesy. The name of the small town where this story takes place is Perdido Beach. "Perdido" translated from Spanish means lost. The antagonist of the story being named Cain, the girl who devotes herself to taking care of the little kids being named Mary, I just thought it was cheesy. More than anything it made me role my eyes. Still, I get how for some this could be really cool. 
• Kind of related to what I just said there is this scene in the beginning of the book where Sam is describing the town. Basically your getting a kind of tour and it was like oh there's the school, the grocery store, the beach, oh yeah and the nuclear power plant..anyway. Another moment that made me role my eyes in this book because it just felt so cheesy to me. Again these are just small things I didn't like, but you might be into.
• Last thing I feel is worth mentioning! I went into this book knowing it's a long series. There are five more books and they all all equally long. If your not the kind of person who likes a long drawn out  then this might not be the series you want to get into. It's a long story and this book is a lot about character exploration so it is legitimately drawn out!

Overall:

I really enjoyed this book! I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. The cheesy bits did make it loose a star, but I fully plan on continuing on with this series. I'm excited to watch these character's and this world develop. Hopefully in the end we get some answers for all these burning questions.

Top Ten YA Books Dealing with tough subjects

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green-  While this book is wonderfully witty it is also deals with some heartbreaking subject matter. The main character, Hazel, has terminal cancer and has to grow up feeling like she is a ticking time bomb. 

2. Burned by Ellen Hopkins- Burned is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read, but at its core it is a book about abuse. Payttn Von Stratten grows up in an extremely devout and completely misguided church (THE RELIGION IS NOT IMPORTANT PEOPLE. CALM DOWN) where women are bellow men. Her father is mentally unstable and very abusive. When Payttn begins questioning her life she is sent away... This book is extremely emotional.  

3. Cut by Patricia McCormick- This book deals with the difficult issue of cutting and self mutilation. It has been a few years since I read this book but I remember it as being honest and raw. At the time, many of my friends and classmates were dealing with this issue and I am thankful to books like this for helping me understand what they must have been feeling. 

4. Identical by Ellen Hopkins- My tears literally stained the pages on this book. This deals with sexual abuse by a parent and it is very difficult to read. Nothing is put gently in this book and the content is very mature. 

5. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous- I found this book thrown in the hallway of my middle school. It is the published diary of a teenage girl who falls into drugs. Reading about her fist interaction with drugs at a party is something that I will never forget. Since it is a diary the reader is left to interpret the missing pieces. At the start (before the drugs)  this was a girl who I could really relate to. A good girl. It astonished   middle school me just how easy it is to fall into the wrong habits. 

6.Willow by Julia Hoban- The main themes behind this book would have to be loss and guilt. Willow's parents have both died in a car accident, and she was driving. She was a young and inexperienced driver on a rainy night when both her parents were tipsy. She blames herself for the accident and becomes a severe cutter. This is a story that I find myself reading at least once a year. It reminds me that we are only human often too hard on ourselves. 

7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson- Rape. This is a difficult topic for anyone to jump into. Melinda is such a strong female character. Her growth and emotions as she deals with an event she would rather forget is empowering to say the least. 

Non- YA Titles  I wanted to mention

I won't go into detail with these because they are more than well known classics. 

8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 

9. Night by Elie Wiesel- A young man's brutal account of his experience at a Nazi death camp. 

10. The Bell Jar by Sylia Plath- One of my all time favorites. This follows a young woman as her mind slowly succumbs to insanity. 

Bout of Books 7.0 Readathon!!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Well, I have officially decided to take the plunge and do Bout of Books 7.0! This Bout of Books will run from Monday the 13th until Sunday the 19th. This will be my first readathon ever so I am very excited to prove myself! My goal is to read 4 books during this readathon which I think is rather realistic. 

I plan on reading The rest of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian Series during the readathon!

To keep me going on this readathon I will be purchasing shameless amounts of candy! To anyone else participating I wish you the best of luck! :) 

The Book Shell is vlogging?!?!

This week was all school, School, SCHOOL. Horrible group projects and mathematics took over my life. Although, I have threatened both already and they promise to leave me alone soon (thank goodness). In, other news, I think it is time I let this blog in on a little secret.

            Are you ready?

I have a YouTube channel!

Now we can all see what I look like....umm still not sure how I feel about this.

I decided to create this channel because I watch a ton of BookTube videos and I want to be apart of this wonderful community. When I first started watching things on YouTube it was primarily beauty guru's. I was completely fascinated by this idea of getting a camera and just talking to people, but make-up just wasn't my thing. Also, not to insult the beauty community, but let's be honest it is not the friendliest place.

Then 2013 came around and I decided that I needed to make a change in my life. I decided that it was high time I devote more energy to the things that I am passionate about. This is what led me to start this blog (read the rest of my new years resolutions here). Around the same time that I was getting into this whole blogging world, I was discovering the BookTube community. Everyone on BookTube is so friendly and open to new people, it is absolutely amazing. I love how everyone is friends and lots of video responses go around because it is such an interactive community. I've made a few videos now and I am enjoying the creative experience so much!

From this point on I will probably post my videos on this blog after they go up on YouTube. I hope you enjoy this new type of media and you can watch all my videos here. Now, I don't have to feel guilty if I ignore one for the other :)

Top Ten Tuesday! Words or Topics that Make Me Pick Up a Book!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by TheBrokeandBookish so go there to see more post on this weeks topic! 

Must Buys/Reads! 

1. Peter Pan- The Child Thief by Brom is an amazingly illustrated retelling of Peter Pan. I've also heard good things about Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.

2. Dragons- The Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini was my Harry Potter guys so they have a soft spot in my heart. Anything involving dragons...yup it's on my TBR.

3. Strong Female protagonist! - I would suggest the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson if your looking for a kick-ass female character. 

4. John Green- let's all be honest here...

5. Greek Mythology- Percy Jackson will you marry me? 

6. Fairy tale retelling- Why have I not read Cinder yet? Ugh so many books..

7. Girl overcoming tragedy-  Sometimes it's nice to read about another person going through a tough time to make you appreciate the good things in life. Some of my favorites include Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson , Willow by Julia Hoban, Identical and Burned both by Ellen Hopkins

8. Stand Alone Novel- It's no secret that the Young Adult section of books stores is almost entirely series and trilogies. I love reading a good series or trilogy but sometimes busting out $20-30 for each book can get pricey. The most recent YA stand alone I picked up is Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz. It was amazing!

A Few Things that Stop me from Reading/Buying a Book

1. All male characters- It took me a long time to realize that the reason I hated books like Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. 

2. Scary- I'm just such a baby for scary movies and like most people I imagine things so much more vividly when I read. Scary = Turtle repellent 


Let me know what your Top Ten Words/ Topics are! Even some you hate would be fun :)