Through a Lense II: Juju

This week on Through a Lense we're looking at Juju from Tales of Whimsy

Do you have character crushes?
Tons! Here is just a few: Jacob from the Twilight series, Peeta from The Hunger Games series, Tamani from Wings series, Ian from The Host, Ten from Meridian, and Silas from The Husband Tree

If you could be any book character, who would you be?
Hermione = she is brilliant and gets the guy

If you could live in a fictional world, where would you live?
The magical town of Sugar Maple in Barbara Bretton's book Casting Spells and Laced with Magic

If you were organizing an exhibit of book covers, which ones would you show?
Wow good question. Got an hour? I would love to do categories of book covers (whimsical, sexy, edgy, romantic, water, etc) but I will name just a few of my favorite covers from books I have read:


Ever been scared/freaked out by a book villain?
All the time. I am a super dooper major chicken. *squawk*

Is there a book/series that everyone seems to have read but you?
Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris; I'm on a vampire diet right now so I'm sure I will try it some day.

What book makes you cry?
There is this one scene in The Red Umbrella that made me weep the other day.

What book makes you laugh?
The way dogs were handled in Elsewhere still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Have you ever been unable to finish a book?
All the time. Life is too short to read bad books so if I really can't get into something I move on.

What books did you like when you were a kid?
Sweet Valley High and The Chronicles of Narnia oooo and I used to love the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series

When is your favorite time to read? Favorite place?
Time? When I first get home. Place? In bed.

Any cool/funny reading habits or quirks?
Only that I have to have silence. I envy people who can read on planes.

If you could hang out with any author for a day, it would be...
Stephenie Meyer. I love her work and she seems so cool and down to earth. Plus I need to learn more about the possible Host trilogy.

If you could adapt a book/series into a movie, it would be
hands down The Dark Divine. But I want to be casting director, k?

What is your favorite word?
Serendipity = it is pretty, whimsical, and full of hope.

One word answers for...
Bestsellers? Congratulations
Book blogs? Love
Vampires? Diet
Science fiction? Sometimes
Classics? Occasionally
Harry Potter? Scar

If you could recommend one book to everyone what would it be?
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Thanks, Juju! I'd probably pick Stephenie, too - she does seem so nice and normal. And nice picks on the cover exhibit - every time I see Sea Change I always think that's Rob Pattinson on the cover :P


If you'd like to be featured on THROUGH A LENSE just drop a comment or send me an email!

[Late] Book Blogger Hop!

Wow, everyone. We had a CRAZY thunderstorm last night that knocked out all our power... and so I've just gotten the internet working again. Anyway, sorry for the delay :D

The Book Blogger Hop is weekly BOOK PARTY, hosted by Crazy For Books, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed! Just stop by, add your link and visit some blogs!

If you've found me through the blog please leave a comment to say hi, so that I can return the greeting!

what to read next? need input!

Okay, so I'm trying to decide between...



I kind of wanted to wait closer till July to read Shiver, but does anybody have any suggestions?

Review - ANXIOUS HEARTS

Anxious Hearts - Tucker Shaw
Genre: YA Historical & Contemporary Romance
# of pages: 242 pages (hardback)
Publisher: Amulet
Amelia's Age Recommendation: 16+

My Thoughts
Okay. First, I want you all to know that I read this book IN ONE SITTING. That never happens. This book was so addictive, so encompassing that I literally could not put it down. I just had to find out what happened to the characters. That is an incredibly big deal for a reader like me - who is most of the time ruled by practicality - and so that counts toward the final rating.

This book is an expanded retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "Evangeline" and I really do suggest you Google it before reading this book. Several times throughout the story I "gave it the benefit of the doubt" because I was familiar with the overall tone of urgency and devotion. The way this book is set up, you have two love stories that are told simultaneously through rotated chapters: the first one takes place in the mid-18th century in Acadia (note to Mr. Shaw: why in the world do you call it "Cadia?" You're missing an 'A') and is supposed to correlate to the poem; the second story is in the present, narrated by the main girl. I wasn't in love with the story's format: every other chapter switched perspectives/settings, regardless of what was going on in the plot, and so it made the transitions really choppy at times. The writing wasn't anything noteworthy, either. The stories blended really well, BUT they didn't follow a traditional literary structure - what I mean is, there was no climax and so you kind of feel like you're running around the pool 20 times.

This book is first and foremost a romance, and I commend Tucker Shaw for creating not one but two incredibly emotional and captivating stories. Like I said before, I was hooked from page 1. Now these two romances: Evangeline/Gabriel (past) and Eva/Gabe (present) are not supposed to be realistic, and so character actions are little contrived. And at the end... I totally cried. I told you - I'm a sucker! If you've read the poem... this story...is relatively faithful to the original ending. I'm not going to tell you which story - the 18th century one or the present one - I'm talking about, though. You'll have to read it for yourself!

However, I do feel the need to address some issues regarding content. I did a little "research" on goodreads and currently none of the other reviews mention what I'm about to disclose. I find that really shocking, because usually this kind of stuff is mentioned...but anyway. I mean what I said about the '16 or over' too.
So while the book was very riveting and engaging, it's organization was a bit lacking.

Quick Content Meter:
L: Maybe a few minor curse words spaced out - nothing particular stands out.
S: There is a sex scene pretty early in the story, and for a YA, it's pretty *graphic*
V: unless you count an idiotic teenager jumping off a cliff "violence," there really isn't anything noteworthy; a few 'heat of battle' scenes...

Final Rating: 4/5. I started out giving this a 3.5 because of the choppy transitions and the content, but then I bumped it up just because you know, I did enjoy this book. It gets props for capturing my COMPLETE attention from beginning to end. Bearing in mind the content issue (which I personally feel obligated to inform you all about) this was a good book and I recommend it to all over-16 year olds - the mature ones, that is.

Cover Wars [10]!

Yeah, it's been awhile since I did a Cover Wars - sorry! Now that summer's here I'll try and be a little more on-schedule. I'm also kind of struggling to find books to feature. Hmmm.

Anyway, to show that I'm an equal-opportunity Cover Wars-er, I'm going to feature a title that I... didn't really like. Let's put it at that. If you wanna know what an angry Amelia review sounds like, you can find my review of Graceling on goodreads. Haha, or not :)
So this Wednesday I'll feature Kristin Cashore's Seven Kingdoms Trilogy - well, the first two, that is. We don't know what Bitterblue will look like just yet.

US

UK


I honestly can't declare a winner this week - I like them both. What do you think?

Opening up the Suggestion Box: You Recommend STAND-ALONE

Alright everybody! I asked, you answered. Here are (some) of your recommendations for Standalone YA novels. Thanks again to everybody's suggestions! Sometimes finding new books can be overwhelming and it's great to be able to listen to other people's recommendations.

Recommended by Christina, Adriana, Molly (A Dazzling Distraction)

Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver

^ By far this was the most recommended novel. It's not really my cup of tea, but for fans of high school-based stories/realistic fiction, this is one you should check out.

Recommended by Christina

Flygirl – Sherri L. Smith

The Unwritten Rule – Elizabeth Scott

A Match Made in High School – Kristin Walker

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots – Abby McDonald

The Stolen One – Suzanne Crowley

Twenty Boy Summer – Sarah Ockler

The Season – Sarah Maclean

Beastly – Alex Flinn

Recommended by Adriana

Willow – Julie Hoban

Going Bovine – Libba Bray

Steph the Bookworm

For Keeps – Natasha Friend

Angiegirl

The Sky is Everywhere – Jandy Nelson

This Gorgeous Game – Donna Freitas

Girl in the Arena – Lise Haines

Recommended by AtenRa

A Certain Slant of Light – Laura Whitcomb

Just Listen – Sarah Dessen

Recommended by Juju

Blood and Chocolate

Recommended by Molly (A Dazzling Distraction)

Crazy Beautiful – Lauren Baratz Longsted

Those were just some of the books you mentioned. I had to cut it off at some point, haha, so hopefully I picked your favorites. Thanks again for the responses!

THIS WEEK'S SUGGESTION BOX:

Dystopian novels (preferably YA)

Ready...Set...Start recommending!

Teaser Tuesday: ANXIOUS HEARTS

As always, Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading.Here's how it works: Grab the current book you're reading- Open up to a random page- share a little "teaser" from somewhere on that page.***Make sure your section is spoiler free!!

I'm about to start Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw- hope it's good, I'm a sucker for cute love stories!
Anyway, here's my teaser:

"Evangeline!" Gabriel shouted. A tall soldier grabbed Gabriel by one arm and jerked him away from her. He held out his other hand, but she could not grasp it before another soldier pushed her to the ground.

Ahh, see? I thought it was going to be an Indian raid. O.o
By the way, this book is based on a poem by Longfellow, "Evangeline," and I totally read that as a kid. When your mom's an English teacher, you read all sorts of fun stuff! Hmmm, I'm interested to see how this will do, because I'm actually developing a story based on a poem...