Review: Beautiful Days

Title: Beautiful Days
Author: Anna Godbersen
Date Released: September 20th, 2011
Pages: 368
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
For the bright young things of 1929, the beautiful days seem endless, filled with romance and heartbreak, adventure and intrigue, friendship and rivalry.

After a month in New York, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur are small-town girls no longer. They spend their afternoons with Astrid Donal at the Greys' lush Long Island estate and their nights in Manhattan's bustling metropolis. But Letty's not content to be a mere socialite. She is ready at last to chase her Broadway dreams--no matter the cost.

Cordelia is still reeling from the death of her father at the hands of Thom Hale, the man she thought she loved. Now she is set to honor Darius Grey's legacy . . . and take her revenge.

Promised to Cordelia's half brother, Astrid is caught up in a world of dazzling jewels and glittering nights--and the sparkle is blinding. Charlie Grey is a gangster playing a dangerous game; and for Astrid, Cordelia, and Letty, the stakes could be deadly.

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Luxe" comes the second book in an epic series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Review:
Beautiful Days picks up a month after the events of Bright Young Things.  Cordelia, Letty, and Astrid have all moved on to other things, such as lounging by the pool.  But, they've also moved onto much more serious roles.  Cordelia is busy with planning to open up a speakeasy, while Letty is trying to launch her career.  Meanwhile, Astrid is finally engaged to Cordelia's brother, Charlie, but being linked to a Grey, especially one of such power, means danger.

This sequel was a great followup to Bright Young Things.  We get to see life after Cordelia and Letty are settled into their new lives in the ever glamorous New York City and how their relationships with other people continue to develop or break at any moment.  I'll admit that it does go at a slow pace at times, but then it picks up and builds to towards the climatic event in the end.

The characters are fantastic and have changed so much by the end of the novel.  Letty definitely becomes stronger, Cordelia becomes more responsible, while Astrid finally realizes that you should always listen to what people tell you to do, especially if they know what they're talking about.  In terms of love interests and boyfriends, some were just plain jerks while others were ones to definitely admire.  Max, for instance, is this mysterious and broody pilot that I, for one, cannot help but swoon over.  On the other hand, Grady was cool...  But then he wasn't anymore.  And Charlie is just Charlie.  He's a brother and a fiance so he has this protective instinct about him.

In general, what I love about Anna Godbersen's novels is the historical time frame in which she writes her novels in.  The 20's is just such as glamorous time in the American history, and to read about it in such an entertaining novel just makes it all the more better.

I would definitely recommend this to people who like a light historical fiction read.  It's not heavily historical, but it has many references to the 20's, such as the speakeasies and bootlegging businesses.  The story itself is just really intriguing and had me hooked from page 1 to page 368.  I cannot wait until I can get my hands on The Lucky Ones, which is out as of 3 days ago, to see what will happen in the final installment!  There are a lot of loose ends that will hopefully be tied up in The Lucky Ones.

Cover Review:
Love the cover!  It's absolutely gorgeous from the title's font to "Cordelia" lying on the lounge chair.  I love the rich purple colors contrasting with the light pink of the dress.

Cleo :)

*Description & cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy purchased.

Cover Crush (4): Eleanor & Park

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Recently, I can't get over the cover for Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell!

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.

"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.

"I’m not kidding," he says.

"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."

"What about Romeo and Juliet?"

"Shallow, confused, then dead."

''I love you," Park says.

"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.

"I’m not kidding," he says.

"You should be." 

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Not only does this book sound completely adorable, but also the cover is insanely cute!  I absolutely love the simplicity of the cover as well as  how the headphones are linked together and form a "&" to complete the title.  I think it's also cool how "eleanor" is red because her main feature is red and "park" is blue because his sweater's blue.  It really makes it stand out :)  The cartoon theme is adorable and is what originally drew me into the book, because you know, I tend to judge a book by its cover.

What do you think of the cover?

Cleo :)

What's Next? You Choose!

                                                                                     
Lately, I've had an influx of books coming in, mainly because it was my birthday.  Because of that, I've been having a hard time choosing between which book to read after I finish The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa!

I've been super indecisive about what I want to read next, so I thought that I would let you guys decide. All of the books sound really great so it's been kind of hard for me to decide which one I would tackle next.You can just click in the poll below to decide what I'm going to read next!

Which book should I read next?
	Fever by Lauren Destefano
	Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia Margaret Stohl
	Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
pollcode.com free polls

Thanks for voting if you did & happy reading!

Cleo :)
                                                                         

Happy Thanksiving!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you guys have lots of fun with your families & eat lots of delicious food! (Especially pumpkin pie because my family decided to deprive me of that this year...).

There's a ton of things to be thankful for this year, especially since it's been a crazy year with trying to apply for colleges and all that fun stuff.  

I'm thankful for:

my family,

my friends,

YOU GUYS!

my books,

my laptop (for not giving up on me... yet),

the amazing opportunities I've had this year,

and a lot more that I can't think of right at this moment.

How could my family deprive me of this
yummy goodness??

Hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cleo :)

Be Back... Soon?

Obviously this hiatus happened a little over a month ago...

BUT I'LL TRY TO BE BACK SOON!

This school year has been pretty crazy.

It's my Senior year, and what I thought was supposed to be an easy year

actually applied to second semester, when all the college applications

have been submitted -_-

Plus, I decided to take three AP classes, all of which are REALLY hard

and hardly what they were like last year when I took three AP's.

IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF CRAZINESS!

Hopefully I'll be back; maybe around winter break?

& hopefully you haven't given up on this blog either.

Maybe I'll finally have that blogoversary giveaway...

And maybe a "welcome back after a 3000000000 month hiatus" giveaway...

And I kind of want to change up things around here a little bit...

We'll see :)

Hope to see you guys around the blog again & happy reading!

Cleo :)

Happy 2nd Blogoversary, Booklopedia!

Today is Booklopedia's 2nd birthday! It's been two really awesome years so far even though there have been times when I've gotten busy and stopped writing up posts, but I always miss getting to write about my opinion and then putting them on the World Wide Web for you guys to read, so I guess that's a plus :)

I know that the best part about blogoversary's is the epic giveaway.  Last year I gave away a signed copy of Supernaturally by Kiersten White.  As you can tell, this celebratory post does not have a giveaway!  But I'm working on that!  I've decided to let you guys choose between these two options and you can comment below with the choice that you have chosen.  I'll give you guys a week from today (until 8/14) to choose which type of a giveaway you would rather have.

1. An option of one book from a list of chosen books from the Book Depository (since I guess that one could be international).
2. A signed copy of a book from an event that I will hopefully get to go to sometime in the near future (although there aren't any that I know of right now and this would NOT be international and would just be for the US).

So, obviously choice number one would be more efficient, convenient and be available to all of you who read Booklopedia.  But, if you would rather want a signed copy then go ahead and let me know in the comments section below!  

Thanks guys if you're still keeping up with Booklopedia!  Every comment I get keeps me going and wishing that I were at my laptop writing up a post when I'm too busy to.

Cleo :)

Cover Crush (3): Let the Sky Fall

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Today, I'm in love with the cover for Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger!

Vane Weston should have died in the category five tornado that killed his parents. Instead, he woke up in a pile of rubble with no memories of his past—except one: a beautiful, dark-haired girl standing in the winds. She's swept through his dreams ever since, and he clings to the hope that she's real. 

Audra is real, but she isn't human. She's a sylph, an air elemental who can walk on the wind, translate its alluring songs, even twist it into a weapon. She's also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect him at all costs.  

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra has just days to help Vane unlock his memories. And as the storm winds gather, they start to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them, but the forbidden romance growing between them.  

Set amongst the desert airstreams of Coachella Valley in California, LET THE SKY FALL is about two teenagers broken by their pasts, divided by their futures, and bound by love.

One thing that I absolutely love about the cover is the two figures in the air... It's just so romantic and relates to the book since Audra can "walk on the wind."  I also really like the color that they chose because it has that tornado feel, like there was dust kicked up all over the place after a tornado came through.  The simple sans serif font that they used really doesn't overpower the cover, but still makes a strong statement so that you'd be able to notice it.  I've also been a fan of simple fonts lately, so other people may not like the simpleness of it as much as I do, but I think it's still cool enough that it doesn't like really distract you from anything else on the cover.  I also like how it's centered in the middle, too.

What do you think about the cover?

Cleo :)

While I've Been MIA For the Past 2 Weeks, I've Been

1.  Trying to get through these three summer reading books for school.  I still have two more to go  through... And one of them's Shakespeare :(  Luckily, I have my trusty Cinnamoroll to get me through them :D

2.  Reading It's Kind of a Funny Story.  I really like it, but because of my summer reading books, I've been reading it for the past 2 weeks (which is a REALLY LONG time).

3.  At Yearbook Camp.  Last week, I spent the week in Malibu at Yearbook Camp, which was nice and all, but the walking was dreadful and the dorms were scary >.<

4.  Freaking out about getting my driver's license.  Which I passed!  But it was still scary.  And I've only driven by myself once, which was only to a friends house 5 blocks away.

5.  At a signing to meet the one and only, Chris Colfer!  This was the coolest thing ever!  Even though we just said Hi and How are you? because the line was crazy long and he came an hour late AND he had to be at the airport in like 3 hours.  It was crazy, but COOL!

That's basically all that's happened.  And while this was all happening, I was freaking out about how I had not posted anything and how I failed the 30 Day Divergent Challenge because I only got to the 22nd or 23rd post and then completely stopped.  It's funny how it seems so easy when you look at it, and how it gets harder and harder to keep up with it.  Note to self, never do a challenge like this ever again because I will fail (I was seriously contemplating over whether or not to do The Hunger Games Challenge... But I guess I'm not going to now.)

Expect to see a couple reviews for books like Second Chance Summer and Monument 14 to come out within at least this week (hopefully) as well as a Cover Crush tomorrow and maybe a Waiting on Wednesday!

Cleo :)

Cover Crush (2): Clockwork Princess

Cover Crush is a new feature here at Booklopedia to highlight the covers that I'm currently absolutely in love with.  I know that there are multiple memes or features out there that feature covers, but I thought that it would be cool if Booklopedia had their own feature and that it should be about something that I love about books: their covers.

Today, I have a MAJOR crush on the cover for Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare!

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it’s too late. As Jem’s health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves—even if it means never seeing the other one again?

When I saw this cover, I absolutely fell in love!! The background is a sort of sad, gray color, but the light coming off of the book really adds a splash of color to the gray background.  I also LOVE the dress that Tessa is wearing...  It's gorgeous and has me wishing that I lived in Victorian London!!  The model is absolutely gorgeous, too (she's actually kind of making me feel a little bit ugly right now...).  Another thing I love about the cover is how well it's going to fit on my shelf with the other Infernal Devices novels!!  Eeek!  I'll have a completed collection of the books :D

What do you think of the cover for the final book in the Infernal Devices trilogy?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Day 22: Your Favorite Thing About the Entire Series

Definitely the whole factions concept!!  That's what I originally fell in love with.  I thought it was such a cool thing to be divided into different factions, even though it can be extremely difficult when going through the initiation process, like for Dauntless!  If I even tried, I would probably be dead the moment they told us that we had to jump off of the train...  Also, the fact that it's a dystopian novel is another favorite thing the series.

Cleo :)

Day 20 & 21: Favorite/Least Favorite Faction

Day 20: Favorite Faction

Oooo This one is super hard because each faction sort of has its own flaw.  I'd have to go with the Amity faction, though.  Maybe their whole view on how to keep the peace and the process they use to keep the peace isn't exactly ideal, but I like how they deal with nature and believe in peace.  They also seem bright and cheerful all the time, like me! :D  Amity is probably one of the most close to normal factions that there is out there, so for that, it's one of my favorite.

Day 21: Least Favorite Faction

Erudite!  Duh!!  Sure, it's cool that you're all smart and like to discover new things, but when knowledge becomes greed, it is not cool!  Not cool at all.  

Cleo :)

Day 19: A Character You Are Most Like

I think the character that I can think of that's similar to me would have to be Johanna since she tries to keep the peace, and I would like to think that I keep the peace... Or at least try to.  I could never be anything like any of the Dauntless people.  Oh!  I could probably be like Caleb, too... Or at least the pre-Insurgent Caleb :)  I like being knowledgeable, but I'm not greedy for information like most Erudite are, so Caleb is definitely a character that I'm most like, too.

Cleo :)

Days 15, 16, 17 & 18

Over the past few days I've been kind of busy and I haven't really been at home long enough to turn on my laptop and type up the challenges :/  So the last four days have been compacted into one post for the meantime, although it kind of defeats the purpose of the challenge... But at least I'm trying my hardest to keep up with it!  I honestly thought that this would be the easiest thing ever, but it turns out that you never really know what's going to happen every day ^_^

Day 15: A Pairing You Didn't Get

Hmmm... This is kind of hard because all of them pretty much make sense... So I'm going to cheat and take a pass on this challenge...

Day 16: A Book/Series You Would Recommend to a Fellow Fan

Anything dystopian with lots  of action would be a good recommendation.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Legend by Marie Lu are two great books that are similar to Divergent.  Delirium by Lauren Oliver could work, too, if you like romance :)

Day 17: A Character You Hate that Everyone Loves

Okay, this one is pretty hard too because Veronica Roth makes sure that you love the characters that you're supposed to love and hate the ones that you're supposed to hate.  If I really had to choose, then in Insurgent, and in Insurgent only, it would have to be Tris.  She was kind of annoying in Insurgent to tell the truth, but she got better by the end :D

Day 18: A Character You Love that Everyone Hates

Again... A hard one!!  But I guess that's why they call it a challenge!  I'm not sure if she's really hated by most people, but I kind of like Tori.  Sure, she got a bit crazy when she was finally able to confront Jeanine, but that's because she took away her brother.  When you loose a loved one, it's pretty justified, especially if you're Dauntless.  Besides, that she's pretty cool with keeping Tris's secret and just being an awesome Dauntless person.

Cleo :)

Day 14: A Song That Reminds You of the Series

I chose This Isn't Everything You Are by Snow Patrol because it reminds me of how Tris and Four, and even some of the other characters, felt that they didn't belong in their faction, but they still stayed strong about it until they had to make their final decision.  While the different "stories" that are told in the song don't really pertain to Divergent or Insurgent, the overall meaning of the song kind of does.  

Some Nights by fun. is also another song that comes to mind kind of because you could interpret it as going out to war, and Tris is doing just doing that in Insurgent.

What song reminds you of the Divergent series so far?

Cleo :)

Days 12 & 13: Favorite Moment in Divergent & Insurgent

I've decided, in order to eliminate doing a whole bunch of posts for the 30 Day Divergent Challenge, I'll do certain challenges in pairs if they go hand in hand, like this one, and then they'll be posted on the latter day :D  I figured this might be less annoying if I'm blowing up your news feed with the daily challenges.

Anyways, my most favorite moment in Divergent has got to be the Ferris wheel scene.  I don't really remember what happened, but I do remember just being completely mesmerized by the scene and thinking that it was totally awesome.

In Insurgent, the bridge scene was pretty intense and one that I can remember well considering my apparent short term memory when it comes to thinking of favorite moments/scenes.

All together, I gotta say that the good moments between Tris and Four were my favorite, too, because Four is just so sweet around Tris *sigh*

Cleo :)

Review: Where It Began

Title: Where It Began
Author: Ann Redisch Stampler
Date Released: March 6th, 2012
Pages: 384
Rating: 3 out of 5

Description:

Sometimes the end is just the beginning.

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving—and without a single memory of the accident that landed her there. But what she can recall, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the crash.

As Gabby describes her transformation from Invisible Girl to Trendy Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why has Gabby been left to take the fall?

As she peels back the layers of her life, Gabby begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex... and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

Review:

Where It Began is basically like a cautionary tale for underage drinking and sketchy boyfriends.  The lesson?  Don't drink and definitely do not date wildly popular and insanely rich guys.  This was Gabby Gardiner's undoing and what wound her up in a hospital waking up totally confused and having absolutely no memory of what happened the night of the car crash that changed her life forever.

Gabby is a sort of rich kid.  She's privileged enough to go to a preppy private school, get a makeover done that will contribute to her life changing car accident, and live in one of the three B's - Bel Air, Brentwood, and Beverly Hills.  However, being a sort of rich kid comes with problems, too.  Her dad's a drunk and her mom's a shopaholic who is pretty much a very superficial person, like Jenna's mom in the TV show awkward. if you've ever seen that show.  Gabby has also been an outcast most of her years at Winston, until she gets her life changing transformation, landing her the most popular guy at school, Billy Nash.

Ann Stampler's debut was an interesting novel.  The beginning was a jumble of thoughts, flipping between the present and the past, which she calls Gabriella Gardiner Presents Scenes from Teen Life in the Three B's.  Eventually she goes home and things start to get... sketchy.  Billy is pretty much MIA and won't talk to her when she finally goes back to school, and she's confused by why everyone pities her even though she's pretty sure she's to blame for the accident.  The beginning of  the novel didn't exactly get me pumped about the novel, the middle got a bit interesting with all the mystery surrounding the pity and Billy, but the ending was what really got me, although a bit too late.  It just captivated me by how twisted and wrong some people are.

In terms of characters, Billy Nash was obviously a jerk.  He's one of those characters that you're supposed to hate, deeply, because he's rich and self-centered.  Gabby was kind of cool, and kind of not.  She was different in that she was artsy and didn't have the money and power that would get her into an Ivy League, like Billy.  However, she still had this sort of fake personality in several instances that I just couldn't stand.

Overall, Where It Began didn't exactly stand out to me.  I loved the conclusion and how everything unraveled in the end, but I can't say that the beginning grabbed my attention and I couldn't really connect or fall in love with the characters.  I will admit thought that it was pretty interesting reading about the rich part of LA.  This novel was Ann Stampler's debut, so I might give her sophomore novel a try.  Another thing about Where It Began.  I would recommend it if you like contemporary novels, but without the cutesy romance.  Personally, I think I'm still finding what I like and dislike in contemporary novels, and ones that deal with issues like these are not my favorites.

Cover Review:
I think the cover is what really drew me into the book.  I loved its simplicity and relaxing vibe with the rainbow reflection from taking the picture on the model's face, kind of like this is an actual photograph.  The simple font also goes with the contemporary genre theme and also stands out with its bold blue color.  I gotta say that I really like this cover!

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy borrowed from local library.

Day 11: A Character That You Wish Died

The previous post was about a character (in my case, characters) that died that I wished didn't die in Divergent.  While Veronica Roth managed to kill a lot of the characters in Divergent, she also managed to create a bunch of unlikable characters that I wished had died in place of the innocent and unfortunate characters.  One of them high up on the list is, but of course, Peter.  He is one lucky duck because I'm pretty sure that he was THIS close to being killed several times, but he must have picked a four leaf clover or something that helped him cheat death a couple times.  

Which character in Divergent do you wish was killed off?

Cleo :)

Waiting on Wednesday (44): Shades of Earth

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, which is brought to you by Jill at Breaking the Spine! This meme is where you can post about what book(s) you're really look forward to.

This week, I absolutely can't wait for...

The final book in the trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis! 

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh--to build a home--on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience. But this new Earth isn't the paradise that Amy had been hoping for. Amy and Elder must race to uncover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. But as each new discovery brings more danger, Amy and Elder will have to look inward to the very fabric of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been meaningless.

I totally can't wait for this book!!  A Million Suns left off right at the perfect point, leaving me desperately wanting Shades of Earth to see how everything ends.  If you haven't read the first book Across the Universe, yet, then you must definitely give it a try!!  You guys have probably heard about the cover change by now and personally I'm not the biggest fan of it.  But if a series like this is really good, then you just have to power through the changes :)

What are you waiting for this week? Also, how do you feel about the cover redesign?

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com

Day 10: A Character That Died You Wish Didn't

This is pretty much a spoiler for those of you  who haven't read Divergent yet, so I recommend shielding your eyes and skipping to another pretty post somewhere on this blog :)

Also, isn't the challenge name phrased awkwardly?  In my mind it is...

There are so many characters that I wish didn't died that did considering the fact that like half the characters that we're introduced to in Divergent have died somehow throughout the book!!!!!!  Okay, now onto revealing who I wish didn't died, but ended up dying anyways.  I was actually pretty saddened by Tris's parents deaths.  You don't read that much about them throughout Divergent, but then in Insurgent, you find out SO many shocking secrets that they've kept that you wonder why Veronica Roth made them die.  I think that it definitely would have been super interesting if they were still alive.  

Will's death was pretty sad, too, because he just seemed like such a cool guy and Tris just had so much guilt even before she pulled the trigger and killed him.

Which character in Divergent died that you wish didn't die?

Cleo :)

Day 9: Your Least Favorite Character

This challenge isn't much of a challenge... This one's pretty easy!!  I think we all know who my least favorite character is because of his pure evilness in Divergent and his somewhat evilness in Insurgent.  Who stabs people in the eye and tries killing them by throwing them into a chasm??  Argh, he makes me so angry!  Although I'd probably be terrified by him if I were in Tris's position... Anyways, the character that I'm talking about is the one and only Peter.  Oh, the pompous coward...

Cleo :)