the bursting book shelf

A huge thank you to Crown Publishing for the Advanced Copy via Netgalley! I found out about this book while I was scrolling through NetGalley. The book reminded me of a mix of Love, Rosie and One Day . As you may have noticed, I am a sucker for anything in the romantic genre. I'll be honest, going into the book, I thought I had the plot figured out. Often, books in this genre are on the predictable side. Instead, I found One Day in December  was a well executed, genre defying, just plain-old-good book.  I love Laurie. She is imperfect, but she tries her best in all areas of her life. What I really love about her is her level of self-reflection and the value she puts on her relationship with Sarah. Laurie spent the better part of a year pining and obsessing over the man she saw at a bus stop and when he resurfaced as Sarah's new boyfriend, she didn't do the predictable thing and try to steal him away. Instead, she did the realistic thing and repressed the hell out of her fe...

I'll be honest with you guys, the reason I bought this book was because it was three dollars at my favorite book store. I was also a little curious after seeing one episode of the TV show (would highly recommend you don't waste your time with the TV show) whether I would enjoy the book more.  Finish Reading >>>>

Title:  Austenland Author:  Shannon Hale Publisher:  Bloomsbury Publishing PLC  Release:  May 29, 2007 Pages:  197 Synopsis: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It's all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. D...

Title:  Just Jilted Author:  Cindi Madsen Publisher:  Entangled: Select  Release:  July 22, 2014 Pages:  350 Synopsis: Dakota Halifax loves to be in love. In fact, as one of Las Vegas’s premier wedding planners, she’s built a whole career around romance. Which is why her own wedding has to be nothing short of perfect. And then her fiancé jilts her. While she’s waiting in her wedding dress. On a cruise ship already out at sea. Once back on dry land, Dakota tries to pour her heart into her business and weekly wedding advice column, Get Ready to Wed. But how can the heartbroken celebrate others’ true love? When she reconnects with her childhood best friend, surprisingly sexy and all-grown-up casino bouncer Brendan West, Dakota wonders if maybe she can fall back in love with being in love. But then her ex reappears, begging for another chance, and suddenly Dakota questions if she’ll ever understand love. Can someone once-burned and twice-shy ever find her way d...

Title:  Can You Keep a Secret?  Author:  Sophie Kinsella Publisher:  Dial Press  Release:  March 1, 2003 Pages:  368 Synopsis: Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her... Review: Sophie Kinsella is a massive name in the romantic comedy book genre: she's sold millions of books and her lighthearted novels make for great b...

Title:  I've Got Your Number  Author:  Sophie Kinsella Publisher:  The Dial Press  Release:  February 14, 2012 Pages:  433 Synopsis: I've lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!! :) A couple of glasses of bubbly with the girls at a charity do and Poppy's life has gone into meltdown. Not only has she lost her engagement ring, but in the panic that followed, she's lost her phone too. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number with the hotel staff. It was meant to be! Except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back, and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal li...

Title:  Ready Player One  Author:  Ernest Cline Publisher:  Broadway Books  Release:  August 16, 2011 Pages:  374 THANKS TO WONDERKIND PR FOR THE REVIEW COPY. Synopsis: In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. Review: Have you ever read a book just for the hype? I'll admit, I was hardcore jumping on the bandwagon when I decided to read th...

Title:  Echoes and Embers  Author:  Karsten Knight Publisher:  Simon & Schuster  Release:  August 28, 2012 Pages:  480 THANKS TO SIMON AND SCHUSTER CANADA FOR THE REVIEW COPY. Series:  Wildefire #2 Synopsis: Fan the flames: A teen goddess fires up her search for love and family in this sequel to  Wildefire . Ashline Wilde may have needed school to learn that she is actually a reincarnated goddess, but she’s ready to move beyond books. She leaves her California boarding school behind and makes for Miami, where she meets a new group of deities and desperately seeks her sister Rose, the goddess of war. But she’s also looking for love—because even though her romance with Cole had to be snuffed, Ash is a volcano goddess—and she doesn’t get burned.      This sequel to the edgy and action-packed  Wildefire  continues a fiery drama on an immortal scale. Review: I was lucky enough to receive Wildefire for review last ...

Title:  Die for Me  Author:  Amy Plum Publisher:  Harper Teen  Release:  May 10, 2011 Pages:  344 Series:  Revenants #1 Synopsis: In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity. When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent. Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder a...

Title:  The Lost Girl  Author:  Sangu Mandanna Publisher:  Balzer + Bray Release:  August 28, 2012 Pages:  423 THANKS TO HARPERCOLLINS CANADA FOR THE REVIEW COPY. Series:  Unknown Synopsis: Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready. But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this. Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive. What Eva finds is a grief-stricken family; parents unsure how to handle this echo they thought they wanted; and Ray, who knew every detail, every contour of Amarra. And when Eva is unexpectedl...