Top Ten Tuesdays.

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This week's Top Ten is 

Top Ten Characters You'd Want As Family Members

1.  Bridget Jones (Bridget Jone's Diary)

2.  Emma (One Day)

3.  Henry "Hen" Birnbaum (Friend is Not a Verb)

4.  Sophie Katz (Sophie Katz Series)

5.  Mr and Mrs. Spellman (The Spellmans Series)

6.  Benny Hogan (Circle of Friends)

7.  Georgia Nicolson ( Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series)

8. Katniss (Hunger Games)

9.  Carrie Bradsahw (Sex and the City)

10.  Gandalf (Lord of the Rings) 

As you can tell I want family get togethers to be hilarious, and I felt the need to add a little stability, which is why I included Gandalf.  I love that  my stable reliable family member is Grampa Gandalf, the wizard.

Awesome YA Contest

Contest held by Beth Revis. Yes, you win these beautiful signed books!Click the banner to enter.

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

These Things Hidden

Author:  Heather Gudenkauf

Genre:  Fiction

Publisher:  Mira

Date Published:  January 18th 2011

From Goodreads: 

When teenager Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever. Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child. Her former friends exult her downfall. Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school. It's Brynn—shy, quiet Brynn—who carries the burden of what really happened that night. All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her.

But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister.

Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. And if the truth is revealed, the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden.

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Wow!  I knew it, I knew that I was going to love this book.  I whipped through Ms. Gudenkauf's first novel The Weight of Silence, so I had really high expectations for These Things Hidden.  The book did not fail me. 

These Things Hidden is told through 4 perspectives, Charm, Claire, Allison, and Bryn.  From the description you get what the story is about, but you also know there will be twists and turns throughout the story.  With so many perspectives being told you would think one of these characters would fall short, but they are all fleshed out, and written so well. As you read each chapter you slowly realize how these four characters are connected. 

The plot unfolds delicately but timely.  I didn't feel there were any fillers, and I never wanted to yell at the book "let's get a move on".  I wonder if Ms. Gudenkauf figures out where she is going while writing or if she outlines and knows exactly where she wants the story to go.

A very heartwrenching emotional read that is well take a hold of you until the very last page. 

If you love Diane Chamberlain you will love author Heather Gudenkauf. 

Heather Gudenkauf website

Sunday Salon

This week was jam packed with activites at my kids schools.  There were family picnics, plays, open houses, cheerleading tryouts, and on top of that I got called to substitute at the primary school. 

Family picnic consisted of me and my 4 year old eating at McDonald's with a crazy amount of kids screaming all around us.  What fun!  Then we went to the early showing of Gnomeo and Juliet.  Very cute!

Then the following day was my 4 yr olds pre-k play.  She played a elephant trainer, seriously the best elephant trainer i've ever seen.  :)  She actually came up to me and said it was time to get dressed for her performance. 

This all lead to the most drama filled day..Friday, the day of my daughters 8th grade cheerleading tryouts.  She was a 7th grade cheerleader, but this year there were twice as many girls trying out.  The day before there were some surprises at the high school tryouts, so that rattled some of the Junior High girls.  Around 10:30 Friday night the results came in and the drama finally whooshed out of the house.  My daughter Jaci made the squad!!!  Cheerleading is ruthless around here so i'm definitely glad tryouts are over.   Shout out to Jaci who also got accepted to the National Junior Honor Society.  Induction ceremony was beautiful!

Casa Vasquez has been crazy the last month! So glad it's Spring Break.

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I posted before that my laptop suddenly left me for awhile, but Friday my laptop was sitting on my bed ready to go back to work.  Happy days are here again.  C ya old slow desktop, hope you liked the action you had the last month and a half, but I's got to go.

I'm super behind on my reviews. I haven't even written them.  I'm currently reading The Passage, but it's size is so daunting that I'm not making much progress.  Yesterday I picked up Stay by Deb Caletti, and finished it in record time.  Very good, review will be up soon..I hope.

My plans spring break are to read, read and read some more.  I hope to make some progress on The
Passage, and read The Vespertine.  Just read whatever I feel like reading. :)

Hope everyone has a great Sunday, and week ahead!

On My Wishlist (5)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post.

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Both are from authors I love, and they sound great!

Deception by Lee Nichols

Deception

Author:  Lee Nichols

Genre:  Young Adult/Paranormal

Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA Children's Books

Date Published:  June 8th 2010

From Goodreads:

When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.

After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life

Another book that peaked my interest from reading reviews on blogs (who says book bloggers don’t influence readers). I was a little afraid that I was going to read more of the same paranormal young adult, and I really couldn’t bare it, but surprisingly it was very good, and very paranormal, and despite the paranormal aspect I still loved it. Now I’m not totally against reading paranormals, I just think I need a slight break from it, unless it is an exceptionally good story like Deception was.

Everything from the well developed characters to the plot made Deception a fantastic read. Female protagonist Emma is independent and likeable character. I’m a sucker for a protagonist I can root for. As for the story/plot, it draws you in and you are curious to know what the heck is going on.

I’ve been a fan of Lee Nichols since reading Hand Me Down, but this is completely different from her women’s fiction, and it should be its young adult..haha.

Anyways, add this to the many rave reviews already out there on Deception.

Go and shell out the money for this one, it’s worth it.



Love at First Click - Elizabeth Chandler

Love At First Click

Author:  Elizabeth Chandler

Publisher:  HarperTeen

Genre:  Young Adult

Date Published:  March 31st 2009

From Goodreads:

I could no longer deny what the heat in my cheeks meant when I was around Flynn. I was falling for my sister's boyfriend.

There's just something about Flynn. Yes, he's a tall, unbelievably gorgeous, dark-haired football player, but . . . he's also sweet and nice and super easy to talk to. It's lucky I'm the photographer for the school paper, because my camera likes Flynn almost as much as I do. Unfortunately for me, so does my sister, and there's no way I can nab Flynn with her in the picture...

Girl code without a doubt flies right out of Love at First Click.  So "Girl Code" has a basic rule, never go after your friends boyfriend moreless your sister's, but honestly in this case I was all for breaking code. 

Hayley is a very likeable character, and her sister, to put it bluntly is a biatch.  Hayley is the school photographer to spends most of her time behind a lens.  She much rather be behind the scenes than to be smack dab in the middle of it all like her sister, she's comfortable that way, but when her crush becomes her sister's boyfriend what is a girl to do?

Flynn is definitely crush worthy!

Love at First Click is pure fun fluff, and a quick read.  You'll read it, enjoy it but quickly forget about.