In My Mailbox(#17)

One house, two worlds...

Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies’ maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can’t help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada.

For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada’s beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family’s honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name—but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept.

Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton.

from goodreads

Don't Quote Me (#22)

Blog Tour: The End of the World As We Know It by Iva-Marie Palmer Review and Giveaway

The Breakfast Club meets The War of the Worlds in The End of the World as We Know It, the latest release from Alloy Entertainment (The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, 666 Park Avenue, Gossip Girl)

They wanted to party like it was their last night on earth. They just might get their wish….

Meet the four most unlikely heroes ever:

Teena McAuley: Queen Bee, first-class problem solver, resident heartbreaker.

Leo Starnick: UFO conspirator, pizza delivery boy, all-around slacker.

Evan Brighton: Baseball all-star, extreme virgin, Teena-worshipper.

Sarabeth Lewis: Straight-A student, weekend hermit, enemy of the color pink.

When Teena locks Leo, Evan, and Sarabeth in the basement during her biggest party of the year, she doesn’t plan on getting trapped in the Loser Dungeon herself. She can barely imagine a night with these dweebs—let alone a lifetime. But when an alien invasion destroys their entire Midwestern suburb, it looks like these unlikely friends are the last people on earth. Now, it’s up to them to save the world….

from goodreads


I would first like to say I am sorry about this being late for the blog tour. I never meant it to be late, but life happens. 

Moving on, The End of the World as We Know It is definitely on the list that you want to read this coming up year, if you have not already. It is an extremely funny novel, and it was over all a great quick read. 

Iva-Marie Palmer writes like how it is. In my opinion, she nails the characters, and how actual teenagers react and do. It's something that I've heard many authors have trouble doing, and sometimes they are terrible at it, but Palmer does it gracefully. I admire honest writers that don't try to change how real teenagers are to fit their story. 

The thing I love most about this novel is that it has sprinkles of funny everywhere. It really is one of those books where you can get a real laugh out of it in one sitting. While reading other's review on the novel, many people have said it is like The Breakfast Club, and War of the Worlds. I feel ashamed that I have seen neither of the movies, and am unable to give you my full opinion. From what I have heard and know about the movie, it's true enough. 

Something I had trouble with were how the characters were introduced. I'm very picky at things like that, because they were introduced one at a time, right after the other. It is that kind of novel where the four main characters would never really hang out with each other, but I wished there was a different approach to introducing the characters to the read. I knew going into the novel that there were going to be some real issues with the main group of characters. It was all really light, and refreshing to read. Though, the stereotypicalness-yes, I know that's not a real word- of it sometimes threw me off, but I enjoyed it none the less. 

So in the end, I'm going to give my best friend a heads nod, thumbs up, and smiling like there's no tomorrow, if she asked me what I thought about the book. (5 out of 5)

If you want to win this book just leave a comment below, and I will choose someone randomly. :D

New Year Resolutions

I've never made new year resolutions, despite the fact that while in elementary school they make us. It was always something that I didn't have faith that I could do. There are so many people that don't accomplish their new year resolutions. There's nothing bad about that, but I feel like I would be setting myself up for failure.

Last year was one of the best years in my short life so far. I decided that instead of making new year resolutions of specific things I want to accomplish, I want to do more than I did last year. Last year I made seven big accomplishments. I'm not going to name all of them, because some are personal, but I think that it's better to try to out do yourself, instead of having specific goals you have to finish by next year. A counselor would probably yell at me that I'm going at things the wrong way, but this works for me. This year I want to accomplish ten amazing things. I don't know what all of them are yet, but I have some goals that I want to do this year. They aren't new year resolutions, like if I didn't do them I would be a failure, but like if I didn't do them I could accomplish something else.

I heard somewhere that when you tell people you are going to do something, the encouragement you get is enough for you to feel satisfied into you not doing it. That's such a strange thing, because that happens to me sometimes. Though, I want to share with you guys all of some of the things I want to accomplish this year.

• Finish editing my rough draft from nanowrimo
• Learning Italian and Spanish(the basics)
• Completing the European Book Challenge
• Progress some how with the blog
• Finish a novel I'm co-writing with my friend
• Get involved in new activities

Those are just some of the things I want to do this year, and I hope I do more, because that is deffo not ten things. I know I will find other things to do over the course of this year, and I know I'm going to update you guys on my nanowrimo novel, and the European Book Challenge. Happy New Year!!

Love and Hugs
Clara