Flash back! Woo hoo :)

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

A Midsummer's Nightmare

By Kody Keplinger

Pub. Date: June 5, 2012

Pages: 304

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Okay.

Urgh, I was so looking forward to this book. I love Kody Keplinger's work. I picked up The DUFF at a YA book sale and fell in love with her characters and writing. When Shut Out came out, I was hooked again. I love that her characters are real. Real problems, they talk like normal teenagers do, and they have sex. Real. Plus the fact that Keplinger is so young, I love her fresh perspectives on situations. So when Barnes and Noble sent me A Midsummer's Nightmare 3 weeks before the street day I was beyond stoked! (Sidenote, I did write to BN to let them know their mistake. Street dates are there for a reason, no matter how awesome it is to get a copy early).

Now, the actual review. Sigh. I wanted to love this book more than anything.... but I couldn't. Reason? The main character Whitley was just beyond annoying. If you are going to make your main character a bitch, you need to make her either lovable or redeemable. Also, Keplinger had too many factors into the storyline. There was alcohol abuse, cyberbulling, daddy issues, dealing with divorce, etc. etc. and then you add a romance into the mix? Way too much going on. It needed to be simplified. The storyline itself was awesome. Girl hooks up with random guy for one night stand and then he turns out to be her future stepbrother? That little blurb was enough for me to pre-order this book. Remember, I am a librarian, so buying books is a huge deal for us.

I didn't fall for the romance. I didn't think the character of Nathan had much going for him. I needed to know more about him. I did think the ending was open enough for a sequel, which I would read. I do not think all Whitley's issues were resolved at the end of the book (mainly regarding her relationship with her mother). 

If you have never read any of Keplinger's books, go get The Duff... It is awesome. A Midsummer's Nightmare? Not so much.


Second Sidenote, her next book, Goldfish, looks awesome. 

Look what barnes and noble sent me 3 weeks before the street date!

Not to sound critical but this is one ugly man... Seriously.

Z is for Moose

A is for Apple. B is for Ball. C is for Cat and D is for Moose. Wait…what? That’s not right!

 In Z is for Moose, a hilarious new ABC picture book, one over excited Moose gets too impatient to wait for his turn in the alphabet. Sometimes alphabet books can be a little boring, but not this one. This book will have you laughing out loud at this crazy moose’s antics as he works his way into random spots in the alphabet. But what till happen when it is actually his turn?

You will have to read Z is for Moose to find out!

Egads, this book made me happy. A coworker happen to watch me read it and said my smile grew and grew the more I read. I wouldn't recommend this book if you are teaching your child the alphabet. Think of it more as a funny help-a-long alphabet book. And boy is it funny!

May need to be discard? ...


You think? Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture. It does not do the damage justice. 

This is what happens when I have a 3 day weekend... Fml

Whats the story Wishbone?

Blast from the past! Anyone remember this series?

About to see what the big deal is...

Book Group Voting Results

First and Foremost.... I am a space cadet.

I totally forgot to post the book group voting results back from April.

It was an awfully close race. For those who remember I gave the book group members a week to suggest titles then a week to vote online for the titles. Since I had increased the book group from 9 months to a full 12 months they needed to pick just 6 months worth of selections. Here are their selections....

Fiction
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Anthill: A Novel by E. O. Wilson
Come in and Cover Me by Gin Phillips (Birmingham Author)
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
Georgia Bottoms by Mark Childress
How it all began : a novel by Penelope Lively.
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Treason at Lisson Grove by Anne Perry
Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Nonfiction
Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American 

Family in Hitler's
Berlin by Erik Larson
Napoleon’s Buttons by Penny Le Couteur

I took to Twitter to post updates (though none of my book

 group users

 have Twitter...well I take that back. I did recruit a new member

 because they were so excited about the voting results.)

Here are some of the tweets that went on during the election...

I mean selection. 

My book group members can vote on their remaining 2012 picks now.
Who is in the lead so far? #hungergames

Oh snap! #Inthegardenofbeasts has overthrown #TheHungerGames 

to take the lead! 

#bookgroupvoting 

#inthegardenofbeasts is still in the lead but now #hungergames and #ariverinthesky are tied! #bookgroupvoting

#deathcomestopemberley is also tied with #ariverinthesky and #hungergames 

 #bookgroupvoting

#hungergames and #deathcomestopemberley are tied for 2nd place. #Inthegardenofbeasts 

 is still 1. #bookgroupvoting

#abelincolnvampirehunter is picking up more votes #bookgroupvoting

Only book with 0 votes? #TreasonatLissonGrove #bookgroupvoting 

#HungerGames #AbeLincolnVampireHunter #MajorPettigrewslaststand are tied in 3rd place #bookgroupvoting

#DeathComesToPemberley is in 2nd and no. 1? #inthegardenofbeasts #bookgroupvoting

BIG CHANGE UP! #Deathcomestopemberley and #inthegardenofbeasts are now 

TIED for 1st place. #bookgroupvoting 

#MajorPettigrewslaststand is now in 2nd place. #bookgroupvoting

#cleopatra #hungergames #abelincolnvampirehunter are now tied for 3rd. #bookgroupvoting

We have a 5-way tie for 3rd place! #comeinandcoverme #hungergames 

 #abelincolnvampirehunter #atimetokill and #cleopatra #bookgroupvoting 

#atimetokill and #majorpettigrewslaststand are now tied for 2nd place! #bookgroupvoting

#sarahskey and #georgiabottoms have now entered the race as contenders #bookgroupvoting

4-way tie for 1st place! #cleopatra #deathcomestopemberley #inthegardenofbeasts and #comeinandcoverme #bookgroupvoting 

Tied 4 2nd place? #hungergames #abelincolnvampirehunter #georgiabottoms #howitallbegan #majorpettigrews #time2kill #sarahskey #tigerswife 

New Poll Results! #cleopatra and #comeinandcover me have taken the lead! Both are tied for 1st. #bookgroupvoting 

#inthegardenofbeasts and #deathcomestopemberley are tied for 2nd. #bookgroupvoting

We have a 3-way tie for the last two spots.... tough decisions #bookgroupvoting

Last minute voting last night changed some things up! Results will be announced today.

 #bookgroupvoting

Pretty intense right? 

I have no idea why I never got around to posting the results, but here you are....

Come in and Cover me by Gin Phillips
Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff
How It All Began by Penelope Lively
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

We will probably be voting again in October for the 2013 selections. Some people have suggested that I have voting only for 6 months worth of books (that way newer books have options of being added) but I like doing 12 months at a time. Thoughts?

I dont even wanna look...