Sadly . . . I've Decided.

Hey everyone. Long time no post, right?

I'm sorry about it. I feel like I've left everyone down.

I've written this post to announce something. And that is that, after much thought, I have decided to take a break from blogging indefinitely. I definitely did not want it to come to this, but it has. I wish I could keep posting, but I've tried, and it just hasn't worked out. I feel this is my only option right now if I want to someday (soon hopefully) to start Reading Keeps You Sane up again.

I wish I could tell you why, but the internet is too big of a place to put something private up, so I can't. If you want a better reason, and you know who you are, just email me. I'll be happy to let you know why.

I hate to do this weeks before the two year anniversary of my blog, but it's what it's come to.

So hopefully I can get back to how it was, and become a part of this wonderful community again.

Thanks to my faithful readers, I'm sorry I've let you down.

The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter

Title: The Snowball Effect
Author: Holly Nicole Hoxter
Publisher: HarperTeen
Reading Level: YA, 12+
Publication Date: March 23, 2010
Pages: 368
My Edition: ARC
Amazon Page

Cover Rating: C+
Book Rating: B-

Plot - 16/20
Characters - 17/20
Writing - 17/20
Originality - 15/20
Entertainment - 8/10
Recommendation - 7/10
Total: 80/100

Summary:

Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the people in her family just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years. Her long-suffering grandmother lived through cancer and a heart attack before finally succumbing to a stroke. And Lainey's mother--well, Lainey's mother hanged herself in the basement just days after Lainey's high school graduation.

Now Lainey's five-year-old brother is an orphan, and her estranged older sister is moving back home to be his guardian. Meanwhile, Lainey's boyfriend is thinking about having a family of their own, and her best friends are always asking the wrong sorts of questions and giving advice Lainey doesn't want to hear. As she tries to pull away from everything familiar, Lainey meets an intriguing new guy who, through a series of Slurpees, burgers, and snowballs, helps her to make peace with a parent she never understood.

Review:

The Snowball Effect was something I definitely did not expect. But I think the fault for that is the terrible summary to go with the book that is very misleading. I kept on waiting for something that never happened and it was a bit disappointed by that fact. Though it isn't the authors fault it's whoever wrote the summary.

Other then that fact I enjoyed The Snowball Effect. It was somewhat depressing though. Three people in Lainey's family died in less then a year, then right after she graduates she has to become a parent with the sister she never knew to care for her five year old adopted brother who has problems, and it was just all depressing. But there was something about it that I liked. It felt somewhat real, not just realistic, but real. The characters made the book feel like that I think. The characters and the writer were thanks for making the book good.

The plot was a bit of a mess for me. I just don't think the plot was strong enough because it felt like there was barely a plot there to build a story on besides the fact that her mom dies, her sister comes back to take care of her brother, and some guy trouble (Which is really where the summary is very misleading) and a 'field trip' towards of the end of the novel, about a hundred or so pages were really strewn out for the novel. It was very original, I was hoping for something to really 'wow' me about the novel but that never happened.

Overall I think with a bit more plot developement this novel could be a bunch more enjoyable, but otherwise I did enjoy this novel.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa Cover!

I love the colors and that girl reminds me of someone somewhere.....

Other by Karen Kincy Cover!

It's a little late, but here it is!

So....

....I feel terrible. Not like I'm sick or anything. I feel terrible that it's the middle of November (my birthday actually) and I haven't posted one thing yet.

I don't have much of an excuse but school and hanging out with friends (and if you knew me in real life you would understand this better), I joined this club thing at school that's been fun and I've learned a lot and has also kept me busy. But otherwise, I really have no reason other then that I just have been in a different mood that I haven't been in in a long time.

But anyway, I just made a goal that I am going to start posting again, starting with a few cover posts from the Tenners that I missed.

I know some of you probably don't like "Sorry I haven't been posting, I'll do it more, I promise" posts, but I did feel like I needed to explain where I've been. So, that's where this is coming from.

So keep a look out for a few posts soon, I'm going to go finish enjoying my birthday. :)

"Waiting On" Wednesday (43)

Heist Society by Ally Carter

February 9, 2010

Hyperion

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history-or at least her family's (very crooked) history.