Top Ten Tuesday: Book Quotes

hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week's Ten:

10 13 Favorite Book Quotes

This list could definitely have been three (or more) times as long, so I selected quotes that were particularly memorable for me and/or that expressed something in a new/eloquent way and/or just had beautiful, evocative language. 

". . . to a cul-de-sac where rainbows and unicorns came to die."

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (pg 350)

"Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew sie by side, our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that." 

Matched by Ally Condie

"Ruby's stories didn't have morals. They meant one thing in the light and one thing in the dark and another thing entirely when she was wearing sunglasses." 

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Sima

"I shake my head, watching snow tumble and swirl from an all-white sky. The world seems so clean if you only look up." 

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

"We notice the silence of men. We depend upon the silence of women." 

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

"Do you know how magic works? . . . Hope. That's how. Without hope, there would be no magic." 

The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig (pg 11)

"I'm not depressed. I'm unhappy. It's different. . . Depression is irrational. I'm unhappy because my life sucks. That's rational." 

Placebo Junkies by J.C. Carleson (pg 185)

“It’s easy to talk about things we hate, but sometimes it’s hard to explain exactly why we like something."

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

"The room had never felt this empty. Like I was trapped between the space of an echo and a scream."

The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (pg 14) 

"'What color is hope?'

'I hope in all the colors,' Dovie said. 'That's what makes it hope.'"
Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

"You go to a Quaker school. Isn't it against your religion to be a jackass?

Where You'll Find Me by Natasha Friend

"...She sits at the piano; it's a concert Steinway as ebony as the night, and just as long."

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

"Her voice was soft, but not like a pillow. Like a pile of fine metal shavings or powdered glass." 

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner (pg 326)

Please leave a comment and let me know your favorite quotes from books!

Top Ten Tuesday: Cover Love

hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week's Ten:

Love Freebie: 10 Book Covers I Love

The Ring & the Crown (#1) by Melissa de la Cruz

Goodreads / Review

Lock In (#1) by John Scalzi

Goodreads / Review

Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard

Goodreads / Review

Timepiece (Hourglass #2) by Myra McEntire

Goodreads / Review

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Goodreads / Review

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (#1) by Michelle Hodkin

Goodreads

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Goodreads / Review

Bad Taste in Boys (#1) by Carrie Harris

Goodreads  Review

Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan

Goodreads / Review

Taken (#1) by Erin Bowman

Goodreads / Review

Please leave a comment and let me know your favorite covers - or any bookish thing you love!

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers [@epicreads @MIRAeditors @DisneyHyperion @stmartinspress]

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Ten:

This week the Top 10 has a 'Cover Theme' so I decided to show you:

10 Covers that First* Drew Me to Their Book

*they are some of my favorite covers, but maybe not my top top - these are ten covers that are what first drew me to a book (some of my favorite covers I already knew the author or description or reviews before seeing the cover)

 A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis
Goodreads // Review

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Goodreads // Review

The Weight of Feathers by Heather Gudenkauf

Goodreads // Reviews of Author's Other Books

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

Goodreads // Review

The Ring & The Crown (#1) by Melissa de la Cruz

Goodreads // Review

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Goodreads // Review

These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Goodreads // Review of Starbound #2

Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard

Goodreads // Review 

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson

Goodreads // Review

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Goodreads // Review

Apparently, I am fond of blue (and maybe pink) book covers?

Please leave a comment and let me know what cover themed Top 10 you did and/or what are some books that you first noticed because of their cover?

The Walls Around Us ~ Nova Ren Suma (earc) review [@AlgonquinYR @novaren]

The Walls Around Us
Algonquin Young Readers
March 24, 2015
336 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from TBD/or Amazon

"Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries.

We hear Amber’s story and Violet’s, and through them Orianna’s, first from one angle, then from another, until gradually we begin to get the whole picture—which is not necessarily the one that either Amber or Violet wants us to see.

Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and innocence, and what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

After reading Imaginary Girls and  Dani Noir (aka Fade Out), I thought I knew what I was getting into with The Walls Around Us. Yeah, no. The Walls Around Us is much more intense than I remember either of those being.

Author Nova Ren Suma somehow takes the world of ballet - like serious ballet, the I-want-to-go-to-Julliard-and-be-a-ballerina ballet not the six-year-old in a tutu ballet - and life in a juvenile detention center and makes them seem like the perfect combination.

Violet is counting the days until she leaves for Julliard. She's more than ready to go, with her things packed, her plans made. She isn't running away from the past and what happened, but neither can she forget it.

Amber is serving a sentence in the juvenile detention center. Even if some of the other girls are counting the days, weeks or months until their release, Amber knows there isn't much point in that for her.

When one strange night brings the two together, we begin to see how they are connected.

Orianna.

Through Amber's story and then Violet's we get Orianna's story. It's through her story that we learn some truths about the other girls, about Amber and about Violet.

The Walls Around Us is a magical, confusing, intense story that is guaranteed to get into your head. We know from almost the very start of the book when the two girls, Amber and Violet, cross paths but the temporal when of that, the how and what it all means remain a mystery. We also know they have their secrets, their lies, even. But as Violet herself makes clear and Amber tells us several times in regards to the girls in the detention center, the truth may be relative.

Or whatever they want it to be.

It's hard (for me, at least) to really review The Walls Around Us without including spoilers. I got involved with each girl's story as it was being told but kept realizing I had no idea how they overlapped and what the ending was going to be.

It is definitely a really good read and how it all pieces together, how each girl's story plays its part and who each of them really is are beyond what I could imagine. I never had any connection with Violet's character. I didn't like her, that was for sure, but also stayed more disconnected from her character. 

The ending, even as it wasn't what I was expecting, fits the story . . . and poses some real questions.

Even though this wasn't a book I loved, it's still one I'm going to recommend and I really cannot wait to see what Nova Ren Suma writes next.

digital copy received for review from publisher, via NetGalley