Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Title: Going Too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
Page Count: 256 pages
Summary: All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far... and almost doesn't make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge - and over...

Review: We all know of my epic love to Jennifer Echols, as evidenced by my post a few days ago. So it's no surprise that I loved this book.

What I Liked:

• STEAMTASTIC! I've mentioned this numerous times before, but I'll mention it again - Echols has this power to make sexual tension just leap off the page. When I'm reading a book and I get to the parts where it's all tension-y and it's really good, I know because I get this feeling in my stomach. I guess it's kind of similar to the feeling you get when you're about to kiss someone you like except not quite as awesome. Almost the entire book gave me that feeling, so, it's a winner!
• Meg! I loved Meg. She was such a bad ass but you could totally tell that something had happened to her that screwed her up, really bad. Same with John, but I pretty much guessed what had happened near the middle of the book. 
• One sitting? Okay, I didn't read this book in one sitting, but it was close. The only interval was sleep. I just couldn't stop reading! I don't know what Echols has done to me - she sucks me in!

Overall, I lovedlovedloved this book, unless that wasn't obvious. I cannot think of anything I didn't like, but my favorite book by Jennifer Echols still continues to be Forget You, which is a ten on the awesome scale of awesomeness. Go! Read this book! :)

Overall: 4.4/5 stars

Teaser Tuesday!

No writing to share this week! So:

"Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• 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!"

Currently, I'm reading Firelight by Sophie Jordan. Here's my little teaser from page 128:

"His words echo inside me. You should stay away from me. Something I already know, but sitting in the front seat of his car, I'm not quite succeeding at that."  

Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Page Count: 479 pages
Summary:When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa.

As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.


Review: I read City of Bones a few years ago and borrowed its sequel from someone after that, but my interest in the series kind of petered out after I learned of the whole controversy surrounding Cassandra Clare, so I never got around to reading the last one. That, however, didn't hamper my enjoyment of Clockwork Angel. 


What I Liked: 

• Steampunk FTW! I don't read many paranormal fantasy or whatever this genre is called, lol. But steampunk is always awesome, no matter how little I read of it. And I feel like this was starter steampunk - not too in-depth and not confusing at all to follow, like some that I've tried to read. 
• Will? Wow, Will was an asshole. But he was so entertaining that I couldn't help but like him! By the end of the book, I was kind of on the fence about liking him, though. We'll see what happens in the next book with him!
• Betrayal! All I'm gonna say, for those of you who haven't read the book. I don't want to reveal anything, but it stings!
• Worldbuilding! I gotta say, Clare is an expert on her world, which I think is totally awesome. A reason why I don't like to write fantasy is because I can never get so in-depth with the world and remember all the details I need to, so I commend her!

What I Didn't Like:

• Length, urgh. I love me some thick books and Clare tends to write some that are pretty huge. While I felt like there wasn't anything that I could've picked out and said, this wasn't needed, I did feel it got a little overlong. That's why it took me more than a week to finish!
• Cliffhanger? I HATE CLIFFHANGERS. That is all.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of The Mortal Instruments - you'll even recognize some of the characters! I think the world that Clare has created it awesome, although I did find Clockwork Angel to be a little long. 

Overall: 4/5 stars

In My Mailbox (7)

I really think I need to get a Kindle or a Nook - maybe I'll ask for one of them for Christmas. I think it would take a while, but it would be less expensive to get one because all I buy lately are hardcovers.

Anywho, this is my awesome pull this week:

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

What did everyone else get this week? 

Another little hiatus!

Sorry I've been pretty dead lately! I've been busy with school and rowing and all that other good stuff. And I don't want Read Sam, Read! to suffer because I'm busy. So I'm gonna take a week or so, probably until the Monday after next, off from the whole blogosphere. I'm going to visit my boyfriend in a week anyways.

Sorry, guys! Read Sam, Read! will come back better than ever!

NaNoWriMo?

Okay, so I'm aware that it's September. I'm also aware that delaying something for as long and you possibly can can only make it better when it actually happens. So, I've started to plan for my novel for NaNoWriMo.

Is it sad that two out of the three novels that I've finished were NaNo novels? I'm bad without a definitely deadline and thousands of other people trying to do the same thing, I guess.

This discussion happens with writers all the time: Are you a plotter or a pantser? And now, pantser's don't pants people: they just have an idea and go wherever it may take them! Plotters, on the other hand, plot every detail they can out until they know exactly what is going to happen, exactly how their characters would act, etc. Me, I've always been a pantser. I treat my first draft like my outline, just using it to get to know the characters and what parts of the plot work and don't work. A very, very long outline.

Yeah, most of the time I don't have the patience for this. Like last year, with TUON. I wrote it, hated it because I was a pantser and now I hate the story even more with the second draft. Maybe because people keep telling me, "THIS IS SO CLICHE. LIKE A SOAP OPERA. Blah blah blah." You're not supposed to listen to those people, but they've wormed their way into my head. So, TUON is on haitus.

And the rewrite of TSTB? Well, I like that one. But I can't get over the idea, once again. Celeste is so whiny. And I didn't really understand heartbreak when I started writing it because I'd never had a boyfriend.

And now, we have my NaNo novel. The idea itself has been puttering around in my head for a couple of years but I'd never fleshed it out enough to make it make sense. But! I've been writing notes!

So, I've totally been productive. And since there's a month and half left until November, maybe I can actually outline! For once!

Is anyone else doing NaNo? Started planning yet? 

A Love Letter to Jennifer Echols

No teaser this week - I haven't written anything worth showing off!

Dear Jennifer Echols,

At first, I wanted to dislike you. You had a book about amnesia that featured a character named Zoey, for God's sake! Everyone would think I copied you or something. But then I gave Forget You a chance. And I fell in love. Forget You and me, we had a love affair, but as always seems to happen, it was over far too quickly.

Then I got Endless Summer. Then Going Too Far. 


It has been decided, Ms. Echols. You have surpassed Sarah Dessen on the YA contemporary scale that I hold so dear. And that's mighty hard to do - Sarah and me, we were going strong for at least two years.

Never stop writing books! You have a way of describing characters and sexual tension that makes me swoon like none before.

Love,
Sam

:) Creepy or what?