Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Will Make You Swoon

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they're particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish (and who isn't?). They're all about creating new lists including a little bit of everything and I've been meaning to participate for so long but always seemed to get behind. So here we are and hopefully you'll head over to their page and check out what everyone else put up for this week's Top Ten.

Romance will always be on the top of my list when anyone asks me what I like to read.  I'm fine if that files me away with all the other cliches about girls, because I can't help what I like, and that goes for my reading tastes as well.  I'm always going to love watching a romance bloom and unfold, seeing the characters discover their feelings for what they are and learn all the important things about their love interest as well as themselves throughout the adventure.  I love it all, and here are a few of my favorites.

Romantic Pick #1:  Just One Day (Just One Day, #1) by Gayle Forman

A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels.

 

Romantic Pick #2: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

 

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Romantic Pick #3:  Accordance (Significance, #2) by Shelly Crane

In the sequel, Maggie learns much more about all the strange things that happened to her, and has to face new ones. She rebels against it, but ultimately, must face it for her new families sake and maybe even her life. Bish went from being her biggest supporter to her biggest pain in the butt and Kyle's intentions to attract her interest may not be so innocent. Caleb and Maggie face many new obstacles together and fight to work through them but will one that should be a good thing be too much for Maggie to handle?

Romantic Pick #4:  Providence (Providence, #1) by Jamie McGuire

 

Struggling with her father's death, Nina meets Jared Ryel, presumably by chance. However it soon becomes clear that he knows more about her than even close friends. When her father's former associates begin following her in the dark, Nina learns that her father was not the man she thought he was, but a thief who stole from demons. In searching for the truth behind her father's death, she stumbles upon something she never expected, and something Hell wants, that only she holds the key for. Jared risks everything to keep the women he was born to save, by sharing the secret he was sworn to protect.

Romantic Pick #5:  Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1) by Jamie McGuire

 

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

 

Romantic Pick #6:  Promise (Soul Savers, #1) by Kristie Cook

 

First installment of award-winning author Kristie Cook's bestselling Soul Savers Series
Alexis Ames has a life full of promise...but not all promises can be kept.

When Alexis Ames is attacked by creatures that can't be real, she decides it's time she learns who she really is, with or without the help of her mother, who guards their family's secrets closely. After meeting the inhumanly attractive, multi-talented Tristan Knight, however, Alexis retreats behind her façade of normalcy...until she discovers he's not exactly normal either. Then their secrets begin to unravel.

Their union brings hope and promise to her family's secret society, the Angels' army, and to the future of mankind. But it also incites a dangerous pursuit by the enemy - Satan's minions and Tristan's creators. After all, Alexis and Tristan are a match made in Heaven and in Hell.

Romantic Pick #7:  Love Story by Jennifer Echols

She's writing about him. he's writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines..
For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter. . . . except this story could come true.

 

Romantic Pick #8:  Song of the Moon (Artemis Lupine, #1) by Catherine Banks

 

What if you found out that there was another world inside your own? What if all of the things you thought made you weird, actually made you powerful? Artemis's life is changed forever when the mysterious man from her dreams, Ares, comes to claim her as his mate. The seventeen year old girl must find a way to adapt to her true life and accept her fate or run from it. She must overcome her fears and human ideals to give her self to the dangerous world, and man, that is her destiny.

Romantic Pick #9:  Divergent (Divergent, #1) by Veronica Roth

 

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

 

Romantic Pick #10:  Unearthly (Unearthly, #1) by Cynthia Hand

 

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

Continuing On (4)

Sometimes I find myself getting so caught up counting down to new releases that I forget about some of the books and series that I'm looking forward to continuing on.  So recently I went back through and checked in with some of my favorites to see what was going on.  I'll admit I was surprised (in a good way) to find that new installments had come out within a series I'd enjoyed.  So rather than counting down in these posts, I decided to list some titles that have come out that I need to back track and read in order to catch up.  Here are just a few...

Catch Up #1:  The Calling (Darkness Rising, #2) by Kelley Armstrong

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is -a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In THE CALLING, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of THE GATHERING clamoring for more.

I shouldn't have let myself fall behind on this one!  With the third installment having come out last month I've got to get in the game so I don't miss out.  Armstrong had me on the edge of my seat with her cliffhanger in the series opener, The Gathering, and I want to dig in and see where she'll take us next.

Catch Up #2:   Override (Glitch, #2) by Heather Anastasiu

Zoe is free. She has escaped the enslavement of the Community, disconnected from the hardware that had controlled her every thought and emotion, and evaded capture by the Chancellor intent on killing her. She is finally free, but she is far from safe.

Zoe and Adrien hide themselves from detection at the Foundation, an academy that trains teen glitchers to fight in the Resistance movement. Together, Zoe and her new team of superhuman fighters must risk their lives to rescue other glitchers and humans from the Chancellor's control. Challenges abound at every turn, and Adrien, who has become silent, distant, and tormented by his visions of the future, only adds to the growing certainty of defeat. But worst of all, as Zoe's team fights against impossible odds, distrust and betrayal leads to the terrible discovery that their greatest threat could already be lurking behind the safe walls of the Foundation.

Full of high-adrenaline action and shocking twists, Heather Anastasiu's Override is an exciting continuation of this popular young adult trilogy.

This is the book that started these posts.  I went to check online for a release date for this title only to find that it's already on the shelves!  The third in the series, Shutdown will be following close on its heels in July and I'm not going to let it slip away.  I want to see if the gang can get their revolution together and bring down the bad guys!

Catch Up #3:  Accused (Ganzfield, #4) by Kate Kaynak

"We have ways of making you talk."

Who now has Isaiah's files?
Someone in the government knows about Ganzfield... and he has special reasons to target Maddie.

So its not that I forgot about this series.  I just came into discovering the Ganzfield series a little late and I'm doing my best now to get caught up as quickly as I can.  I did manage to get myself a copy of this book and have already started it and will posting a review soon.  Kaynak is a machine and has popped out Operative and Soul Mate already, with Solitary releasing this year as well.  Its a lot to get through but I'm loving this series so its no hard feat.  I'm not sure how Kaynak has managed to keep everything going, keep the material constantly exciting and interesting, not to mention coming up with all these crazy ideas for how to further the plot and keep things moving forward, but somehow she's done it and I'm hoping has no plans to stop any time soon.

Catch Up #4:  Hallowed (Unearthly, #2) by Cynthia Hand

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

In this compelling sequel to Unearthly, Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

I don't want this series to end!  I've got this sequel on my Kindle already but was waiting for Boundless, the third and final installment in the series to come out so I could bang them out all at once.  But of course I'm slacking and now have to catch up.  From what I've heard the series ending was great but bittersweet...I'm looking forward to seeing for myself if this is true.

Review: Unearthly (Unearthly, #1) by Cynthia Hand

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees...

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honest and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

What a page turner! I've got to hand it to Cynthia Hand on this one...it was unique and interesting, compelling and very moving and had me staying up late into the night reading so I could find out what would happen to Clara and the rest of Hand's fantastic characters. I love a good story about Angels, but this time around I'll admit the spin that Hand put on why there are Angels on earth and the "purpose" each of them has really piqued my interest. I was so excited as I read on to see what new clues Clara would be given and how everything would pan out for her and her purpose on Earth.

I will say Tucker took me by surprise. I was all ready to be planted firmly in the Team Christian side of things, and that went right out the window about half way through the book. While I think both characters are great and the way they interact with Clara made for some very interesting and entertaining reading, I'm still going to say that Tucker won me over in the end.

To make matters worse, Hand threw me for a loop with the last quarter of her book. Wow, can you say intense action? I was on the edge of my seat so anxious to see what choices Clara would make, how they would turn out for her and what the consequences of everything would turn out to be. Now of course Hand left her readers with a cliffhanger, and one that has me ready to get to the store so I can pick up where this opener left off, with her second installment, Hallowed. I can't recommend this series opener enough!

I gave Unearthly (Unearthly, #1) 4 shamrocks!!!!

In My Mailbox (53)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. I'm always picking up new books, because I never tire of reading, but the other thing I like about this meme is that it gives everyone an opportunity to check out what other book fanatics, bloggers, etc... got for themselves. I've gotten great recommendations from this meme and hope that keeps up in the future.

Here's what I got, what did you guys get this week?

For Review:

Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls, #1) by Krystal Wade (Thanks to Curiosity Quills Press)

"There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most." - Katriona Wilde.

Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she's ever known and love ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she's dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her. Kate's forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What's worse, she has no control over her new future, and it's full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made. Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?

To Read:

Hallowed (Unearthly, #2) by Cynthia Hand

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose - the task she was put on earth to accomplish - is not as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between the White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

Countdown: Romance Edition

Every now and then a girl as to just be a girl and swoon at every page in a romance novel. I love them. I know reality often doesn't work out the ways these novels do, fiction is fiction, but I am a total fan when introduced to a new romance. Romantic comedies always draw me to the movie theaters, but there's just no comparison to a romance novel. A reader's imagination, there's nothing quite like it. So here are a few that I'm looking forward to.

Countdown Pick #1: The Vespertine (The Vespertine, #1) by Saundra Mitchell (3/7/2011)

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him. When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause. 

As a Baltimore native I was super excited to hear about a book based in 1889 Baltimore. I'm very curious to see how Mitchell describes good ol'Baltimore and if I'll know the areas she references. But aside from my Baltimore geekdom, there's romance! Of course it's forbidden which only makes it that much better. I'm already in love with the idea of Amelia and Nathaniel together and book's not even out...what a romantic I am. So with home field advantage, a high stakes romance, and maybe a little bit of fortune telling thrown in, what more could you want in a 2011 debut?

Countdown Pick#2: Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand (1/4/2011)

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

Talk about your love triangle alert? If Hand's main character is thrown into a reality where she's part angel, I can only imagine that coming to grips with news like that would be enough to fill a girl's plate. Add a handsome and wholesome boy she's dreamed of (literally) and a boy, his polar opposite - tempting her at the same time, what do you get? An instant out of me for sure! I'll be curious to see if the part-Angel gives in to the temptation of a bad boy or if the nice guy doesn't end up finishing last...aren't you curious too? Did I mention it's a series opener too?

Countdown Pick #3: Half Moon (The Crescent, #2) by Jordan Deen (1/13/2011)

I'd been a fool for coming here with them, and now... no one would come to save me. The world that hid in the shadows of humanity was full of enemies.Faced with death, Lacey Quinn ran away from the only family she'd ever known. That... was just the beginning.As the decision she's made sinks in, Lacey struggles to fit in with the pack and find the key to bonding with her werewolf soul mate, Brandon. But, lies can only be concealed for so long. Adjusting to a powerful new best friend, a twelve-year-old roommate with a nauseating Barbie fetish, and a lost love that won't stop haunting her dreams, she knows she has no hope of having a normal future-ever again.After a long talk with the dead mother she never knew, and an almost deal-breaking night out with Brandon, Lacey starts spiraling into the underworld-a place where all things are possible and everyone is out to kill her.With mysterious legends of witches and sorcery marring her past and clouding her future, she quickly learns-werewolves aren't the only ones lurking in the woods...waiting to claim her powers for their own.

Now I will admit that I've already gotten the chance to read this (thanks to being a part of the book's blog tour) and it rocked! I included this one on the countdown for a bunch of reasons - but mainly because the copy I read was an electronic galley and I'm counting down until I can get my hands on a copy of my own! But I also wanted to include it because the romance and love triangle in The Crescent series gets turned up (more than a notch in this installment. It's romantic for sure, not to mention much steamier this time around. I melted the whole way through and was totally putty in Jordan Deen's hands!