REVIEW: "45 Pounds" by K.A. Barson

45 Pounds (More or Less)
Author: K.A. Barson
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Issues
Release Date: July 11, 2013
Publisher: Viking Press

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

Here are the numbers of Ann Galardi’s life:

She is 16.
And a size 17.
Her perfect mother is a size 6.
Her Aunt Jackie is getting married in 10 weeks, and wants Ann to be her bridesmaid.
So Ann makes up her mind: Time to lose 45 pounds (more or less) in 2 1/2 months.

Welcome to the world of infomercial diet plans, wedding dance lessons, embarrassing run-ins with the cutest guy Ann’s ever seen—-and some surprises about her NOT-so-perfect mother. 

And there’s one more thing. It’s all about feeling comfortable in your own skin-—no matter how you add it up!

First Sentences: I long for the roof to cave in at Keehn's darpartment store. For a bomb threat. Or even for a simple power outage. Anything to stop the torture of swimsuit shopping with my mother. "What about this one?" Mom holds up a tiny orange polka dot bikini. Skimpy. They are all skimpy.

My Thoughts:

This was a book I definitely needed to read. It's a book EVERYONE needs to read. K.A. Barson does an amazing job educating readers on what it's like to be an overweight teenage girl. We get to see what it's like to be this way and be taunted by weight loss infomercials and fast food ads on a daily basis. The pressure to be 'thin', 'sexy', 'popular'..WANTED. It's taking over the lives of not only women, but men now, too! This novel is a must read, and not just for teenagers. It touches on how not only the media, but our relationships with people we're closest to, can mess with our minds in the worst of ways.

Two-or is it three- drinks later, "Thriller" comes on. Shrill screams from the Knees practically burst my eardrum. Or is that me screaming? I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything right now, except that I can't feel my nose. It's numb. I keep touching it to see if it's still there. I feel warm all over. And it's amazing how much I don't care about anything. I don't care about the wedding. Or dresses. Or diets. I don't care about Courtney. Or Naomi. Or dickhead dads. I don't care about not caring. I love it. Maybe I'll start drinking every day. Screw the calories. (ebook 63%)

The main characters were very easy to feel for right away, especially Ann. There's something very lovable about her. She's quirky, down-to-earth, and only wants to be accepted. I love how genuine she is. She tries so hard between her father pushing her away and losing her best friend. She tries to fit in, but others just shoot her down. I feel like anyone can relate to her at some point in their life.

This is a great, fast-paced book. It's family. It's friendship. It's love. It's reality. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. Loved it!

Bout of Books 9.0 Readathon: DAY 1

Hey, everyone! Alright, sooooo Day 1 of the Bout of Books 9.0 Readathon is officially complete for those of us in Central Standard Time. I personally think I got onto a great start for the week! 

My first goal was to finish "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth in which I was reading up to midnight last night and then started tracking my pages for the readathon. I had 135 pages left at that point in which I finished AND reviewed before going to bed (click to read my review).

After waking up, I started reading my digital ARC of "After The End" by Amy Plum (which is a pretty kick ass story so far) and read that on and off through out the day until my alarm went off at midnight. I managed to read up to the 48% mark (which would be about 168 pages).

Total Pages Read: 303

Friends keep asking me to hang out with them and be what normal people call "social". Ewwww. Plus, it's -43 degrees here. You expect me to leave the comfort of my confines? I guess I can't keep blaming the weather. I'll just have to take my book with me to these events..

REVIEW: "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

Allegiant (Divergent #3)
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Release Date: October 22, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories. 

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love. 

First Sentence: I pace in our cell in Erudite headquarters, her words echoing in my mind: My name will be Edith Prior, and there is much I am happy to forget.

My Thoughts:

My emotions are just all over the place at the moment, so don't mind me. I knew that Allegiant would be a crazy, beautiful mess but it really did surprise me in some ways. Those last 50 pages really shook me up. I did not foresee any of those events going down. Veronica Roth just KNOWS how to tug on the heart strings of her audience. On another note, Allegiant did an amazing job with introducing a ton of new characters, especially with it being the conclusion of a trilogy, as well as having to go about world building all over again seeing as the setting changes for a good portion of the book. This whole series takes place in Chicago, and as I've been exposed to the city more than a fair share of my choosing, I could easily say I know it well. The way Veronica Roth is able to describe Chicago, even in it's futuristic ruined state, sort of gives me a feeling of deja vu. A reader who isn't familiar with the city could easily get to know it through the author's point of view. It's clear that imagery is one of her strong points.

There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the world of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of bravery I must have now. (Hardcover 509)

Allegiant is an amazing conclusion to the Divergent trilogy. It was well laid out, beautifully written, and definitely held your attention through it all. That's saying a lot for me. I can barely sit down through a movie, let alone read 300 pages straight in one sitting, but this book changed me. I don't mean that figuratively, either. No. This book, and this whole series, literally changed my perspective on the world. I learned about true humanity from Veronica Roth. She is not only an amazing author, but a spokeswoman to this generation. What I learned from this series is that you truly can be selfless and brave, smart and kind, and honest. We don't have to just choose one. It may just be impossible to filter out the rest. We are human. We are Divergent.

Review: "The Ocean At The End Of The Lane" by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: June 18, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins

Goodreads | Amazon | TBD

Summary:

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

First Sentences: It was only a duck pond, out at the back of the farm. It wasn't very big. Lettie Hempstock said it was an ocean, but I knew that was silly. She said they'd come here across the ocean from the old country.

My Thoughts:

This book. Just. Wow. I usually don't give these kind of books the time of day, especially if they are filed under the 'Adult' genre. After reading the summary on Goodreads, I felt like I would be very confused by this story, yet something compelled me to purchase the ebook at that very moment. From the first few chapters, I was intrigued. The book starts out with the main character (whom is nameless) returning to his childhood home town for a funeral, only to find himself at the end of the lane at the farm of an old friend, Lettie Hempstock. Let's take a quick rewind to the part where I stated that the main character hasn't a name. I absolutely love this factor. A main character without a name? How unique! Any who, after he arrives there, he sits by the duck pond on the Hempstock farm, reminiscing about his childhood. At this point, the book goes back in time to his seventh birthday, where the story really starts. This isn't a fast paced book as your everyday 'fantasy' would be. Yet, somehow, it captures your interest and can easily be read in a single sitting.

Could there be candle flames burning under the water? There could. I knew that, when I was in the ocean, and I even know how. I understood it just as I understood the Dark Matter, the material of the universe that makes up everything that must be there but we cannot find. I found myself thinking of an ocean running beneath the whole universe, like the dark seawater that laps beneath the wooden boards of an old pier: an ocean that stretches from forever to forever and is still small enough to fit inside a bucket..(ebook 78%)

The nameless main character is very easy to become attached to. I found myself, on several occasions, feeling as if I was the boy. More than once through the story did I feel the nostalgia flowing from the experiences through the boy's eyes, his mind. Lettie Hempstock was also a character that I found myself loving, as maybe a big sister just trying to look out for me. Or with Ginnie Hempstock, a motherly figure, always cooking a comfort meal. And Old Mrs. Hempstock, the wise grandmother who's age isn't set and stone, but will always be wise beyond her years.

Neil Gaiman's writing style is one I've never seen before. He somehow manages to make you believe a child has written the story, yet has the fluidity of an English professor. It was so easy to read and make sense of, and didn't seem too rehearsed, as if he'd just grabbed a notebook and wrote it all out in one sitting while it was fresh in his mind. I loved it. The writing was absolutely beautiful.

Overall, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane was the book I needed to bring me out of my reading slump. It is the bleeding image of childhood. A reminder of what it means to be human, naive in all our glory. How a small duck pond can be as large as an ocean. And, how sometimes, we don't always know what lays at the end of the lane.

Guess who's participating in Bout of Books again?!

Yes, yes, yes. It's me! I absolutely love participating in read-a-thons. They keep me in check on my reading goals and what-not. Last time, I tried to be very specific with what I would be reading on what day, for how long, how many pages. That turned out to be my huge downfall. This time around, I'm going to set broad goals for myself and not worry about actually setting aside certain times for me to just drop everything and pick up a book, because that's no fun. And, read-a-thons are supposed to be fun, right?! So, here are the books I plan to read:

Finish Reading

Re-Read

Start and (hopefully!) Finish

Interested in joining in on the fun? You can learn all about the Bout of Books 9.0 Read-a-thon and sign up over at the Bout of Books blog!

Happy New Year, Everyone!! I'M BACK!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday (or will continue to if you're still celebrating!) and a wonderful New Year! It's the first day of 2014 and I would like to announce that..I'M BAAACCKK! I 'quit' blogging for a while because I had just started my first year of college and was feeling quite a bit overwhelmed. I wasn't reading as much, and for the books I had read, I didn't have the energy or motivation to write elaborate reviews on them.

 So, with the start of a new year and a 'new me', I'd love to return to blogging! I will be redesigning Literary Getaway since every time I look at it now, I get a whirling headache. So, please, have no mind if when you visit, the blog is all over the place. I'm not too organized when I take on a new project (quite the opposite, actually). But, in the event of me feeling half-organized at the moment, I'd like to spit out some goals/resolutions and what-not for the year.

• Follow Back Fellow Bloggers

I have this horrible habit of not returning the favor to a fellow blogger that follows me. This will definitely need to change.

• Reply To Comments

I know that you all take time and effort out of your day to comment on my posts and as much as I've tried to reply, I often say "Why bother?" but from now on, I will make it a goal to reply to each and every comment.

• Write Quality Reviews

Sometimes after reading a really good book, as much as I want to rave to the world about how great it is, I really don't feel like sitting down and writing out a great in-depth review. What I'd rather do is lay in bed and bawl my eyes out over the fact that the book is finished. I need to get on the ball with taking the time to write out a well-thought, quality review.

• Catch Up On Reviews

Speaking of reviews, I need to catch up on a good deal of my review pile! Over the months, I've let it grow to an exponentially huge number (okay, it's really not THAT horrible, but still, pretty large) and I owe it to the authors/publishers to get these reviews out there!

• READ MORE BOOKS!

This is an obvious one. Seeing as how I didn't reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for 2013 shows that I need to put my nose into many more books than I have. Yes, I do have priorities and reading is honestly not one of them (college, bills, getting a job, family), but it would be nice to at least finish up some series that I have forgotten about in the past couple of years.

I'm leaving Blogger... :'(

Hey there, lovelies! I just wanted to let you all know that I'm moving to Tumblr. I really like what Blogger has to offer, but I'm far more familiar with Tumblr's set up and what not. I would very much appreciate it if all of you with Tumblr accounts would follow it as I most likely won't be posting reviews, hauls, memes, or anything else on here from this point on. It's been a lovely ride here with all of you and I would hate for that to stop. I'm starting up my YouTube channel again, so all of you with YouTube can still catch me on there. Thank you all for being absolutely amazing followers. I couldn't have asked for a better audience.

XOXO, Andrea Rose. <3

My YouTube Channel!

My Tumblr!

$1 EBOOKS! All the most popular and best-selling books out there!

Hey there, everyone! So, I've been needing a way to make some small cash not just to afford giveaways, but also to have some spending money when I go to Scotland next month and so I can get some supplies ready for college in September. I've recently went into the ebook selling business! All books are $1, unless you're purchasing from a series than they are $0.50 each as long as you buy ATLEAST two of the books from that series. I've got almost everything from the Divergent series to the Infernal Devices trilogy to many of the most popular authors! I just made a Facebook page for this small business a couple days ago. I've sold about 50 books so far and have had no complaints. It's a very simple process. You look through my Inventory album (which doesn't have even close to as many books as I actually have) or ask me if I have something, and then you pick which cover you'd like for it and I email it to you in the format you prefer. I take payment via PayPal. No taxes, no processing fees, just $1!

Also, if you purchase a book from me, you can enter for extra entries in my giveaway!

Click here to check it out!

GIVEAWAY!..because I love you. (:

Hey there! I just wanted to apologize for not being active lately. I also want to show my appreciation to all of my followers that haven't unfollowed me because of my inactivity. So, here's a giveaway as both an apology and appreciation to you all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"172 Hours on the Moon"-Johan Harstad (REVIEW!)

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad. Published by ATOM on April 5th, 2012. My rating: 5/5 Stars

It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever. Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune. Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan. Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.
In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

This book simply blew my mind! Before I get into my review, I would just like to thank the author, Johan Harstad, for developing such an amazing story line. The plot is absolutely, as stated before, mind-blowing! The imagery, the settings, the characters: OMG! Alright, I really need to stop fangirling over this book. It was SO good, you guys! We follow 3 teenagers who've won NASA's international lottery for a week long trip to the moon in the year 2019. They all have different reasons for going, but when they get there, they realize that they shouldn't have come at all. They're not alone. Something absolutely sinister is wondering the surface of the moon and they can't exactly explain it. Some things I love about this book: 1) The fact that, for the most part, it's realistic (aside from the creepiness on the moon). 2) The characters are very easily like-able. 3) You will most likely NEVER predict the ending. No matter how good you think you are at predicting books, try again sweetheart. This novel will blow you away. I can't really say much more without fangirling about this book. Nobody has truly lived until they have read this book. It's an absolute MUST-READ!

Sorry I've been gone for so long!

Hey ya'll! I'm SO SORRY I've been gone all this time. I've been so absorbed in finals and graduation, and getting enrolled in college. Also, I'm going to Edinburgh, Scotland with my theatre group this summer to perform in the Fringe Festival (we're performing ZOMBIE PROM the musical!) and it costs a whopping $6,000 for each of us to go! I'm $1000.09 behind. So, I'm working very hard on fundraising and selling ad space to businesses in show programs and what not. I've barely read this whole time. According to Goodreads, I'm 22 books behind! OH BOY! So, during my down time, I'm reading and trying to catch up on reviews. I'm sure I've upset some publishers and authors, but LIFE COMES FIRST! I promise, I will get to reviewing your books! Please be patient with me. Sooo, on the 8th of this month, I graduated high school!!

That's me on the right. (:

So yeah! I made it, finally! Now, before I have to start on my college reading list, I will be catching up on my TBR!