They Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

High School can be hell and Ruby Oliver knows it all too well.

It wasn't always like that though, once she was reasonably popular, had good friends and a boyfriend she loved, Jackson.

But then everything changed, she lost her friends, her boyfriend and is one of Tate Prep's most hated people. Oh, and she's now in therapy thanks to some truly freaky panic attacks she has been getting.

For her first therapy session, Doctor Z has Ruby write a list - the boyfriend list of the title - of all the boys that had affected her life somehow, from Adam Cox whom she knew in kindergarten, to Cabbie with whom she did something 'advanced' once.

As the list goes on, from boys 1 to 15, Ruby tells the tales of each of the boys and what they meant or didn't mean to her, and she also tells the story of how she went from reasonably-popular to leper of the Tate Universe.

I have to admit it took me a while to read this book, being deeply neurotic myself, at times it was hard to read Ruby's story, of her panic attacks and anxiety but her humor kept me reading and in the end I enjoyed The Boyfriend List a lot, and I'm really looking forward to reading The Boy Book and the upcoming Treasure Map of Boys.

Ruby is a very funny narrator and her voice rings true. I wasn't thrilled about Ruby's so-called friends (Kim and Cricket, Nora seemed ok), or Jackson. But there were other characters like Meghan, Noel and Hutch who were nicer to read about.

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I got my first ARC!!!!

Okay, so a few weeks back someone at Little Brown emailed me about reviewing Ghostgirl and Homecoming by Tonya Hurley. I was so excited!!! But since I'm outside the US most of the time, I asked my cousin to pick them up for me since usually she comes down here for a while in the summer or we go visit her.

Anyway, I finally got them!
I got them over the weekend actually but things have been a little busy around here.

I haven't have a chance to read them but I did look them over and they look great, the covers and the inside art are amazing! Oh and I also got Confetti Girl by Diana López, who's a local Texan author - my cousin is from Texas, so I guess that's why they sent it, but hey! free book! YAY!.

Anyway, that's it for my little random note.

Ps- I took the pictures on my desk. Here is a broader look (Those aren't all of my books, just my new shelves).

BBAW

The Second Book Blogger Appreciation Week is now accepting nominations of your favorite book blogs. You don't have to have a blog to nominate, btw.

So go now and nominate your favorite blogs.

Book Gossip (#12)

Book Gossip #12

Okay, so I was reading Romance Novel TV and saw a post on Harlequin Teen.

What is Harlequin Teen, you might ask?

Well, it's a new division of Harlequin, which will focus on romance for Teens! Particularly with a paranormal element.

Their upcoming titles include:

• My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent (out July 28th) about a girl who can sense when people are about to die.
• Intertwined by Gena Showalter (out August 25th) about a 16 year-old with four human souls living inside his body.
• Elphame's choice by P.C. Cast (out September 29th)

According to RNTV, Harlequin Teen has around 20 titles planned for 2010, which will include paranormal, sci fi and contemporary romances

Now, you're free to think whatever you want of Harlequin but - raunchy covers, and abundance of tycoons, billionaires and virgin brides aside - they have been around for 60 years and to this day they continue to be one of the strongest presences in romantic fiction (not to mention ebooks), and if one thing can be said for them is that they try to keep up with the times.

Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins.

Maggie has a talent for making a fool of herself in front of pretty much everyone from her small town, Gideon's Cove, Maine. Like that time she was dumped in front of everyone some ten years ago, or last year when she sort of fell in love with the new priest in town - she didn't know he was a priest at first, though.

Other than her talent for embarrassing herself and her crush on Father Tim; Maggie loves her life: she owns Joe's Dinner, has a really excellent dog and lots of friends. If only she would meet the right man, if only her mother would stop comparing her to her twin sister Christy who has a great husband and a baby.


In an effort to help Maggie get over his crush on him, Father Tim decides to play cupid, trying to fix her up with a series of men - all good and Catholic, of course - but when one of those dates goes awry, Malone - a loabsterman and Gideon's Cove's town loner - steps in to rescue her... and gives her the best kiss of her life.

So goes the road to romance.

Catch of the Day is a very fun book, Maggie is funny and sweet and she cares about everyone. Malone I liked right from the start, even though he isn't very talkative and hard to get to know, you do get the sense that he's a good man. Oh, and Maggie's dog Colonel is awesome.

As with Just One of the Guys, there are a lot of characters in this book, family and friends, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of who is who. And I also had a couple of pet peeves, mostly with Maggie though Malone wasn't completely innocent in the matter either.

But, over all, I enjoyed Catch of the Day a lot.

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PS - Though sex is mentioned, there is nothing graphic in this book. Just letting you guys know.