Monday, March 31, 2014

Best of the Bunch & Challenge Updates - March 2014

Best of the Bunch is a book blog hop hosted over at Always Lost in Stories on the last day of each month, where we can look back over the books we have read over this past month and give a Best of the Bunch award to our favorite book of that month.

March 2014

I read so many amazing books this month!  I can't believe how many 4.5 and 5 star reviews I posted!

This month I reviewed the following:

  • This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • The Star Thief by Jamie Grey | Review | Rating 4.5/5
  • Saving Quinton by Jessica Sorenson | Review | Rating 5/5
  • The Violet Hour by Whitney A Miller | Review | Rating 4/5
  • Almost by Anne Eliot | Review | Rating 4.5/5
  • Hopeless by Colleen Hoover | Review | Rating 5/5
  • All of You by Christina Lee | Review | Rating 3.5/5
  • Golden Stair by Jennifer Blackstream | Review | Rating 5/5
  • Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski | Review | Rating 3.5/5
  • True North: Finding Home by Allie Juliette Mousseau | Review 5/5
  • Angelfall by Susan Ee  | Review | Rating 4.5/5
  • Severed Colours by Dawna Raver | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
    • The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna | Review | Rating 3/5
    • Before You Break by Christina Lee | Review | Rating 4/5
    • The Romeo Club by Rebekah L. Purdy | Review | Rating 3/5
    • The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay | Review | Rating: 5/5
    • Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Review | Rating 4.5/5
    • Alive by Megan D. Martin | Review | Rating 2.5/5
      And my March 2014 Best of the Bunch winner is . . .

      The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay


      This month was really tough to pick a winner.  I read SO many great books in March for some reason!!  But The Sea of Tranquility was just so amazing - it barely edged out some others.

      Summary: I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

      Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

      Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

      Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

      The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.
          buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

      Runners Up:
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      Now that you know what I read in March, here's how those books fit into the various challenges I've entered for 2014:

      Hosted by: The Mad Reviewer
      Goal: Mad Reviewer (104 books)
      Read So Far: 37

      Goal: 50 Books
      Read So Far: 31

      2014netgalleychallenge 
      Hosted by: Ariel Avalon
      Goal: 
      Read So Far: 7

      Goal: Gold (7-11 Series)
      Read So Far: 0 (I don't think I've finished any series yet!)

      Hosted by: Fiktshun and Phantasmic Reads
      Goal: Adept (40+ books)
      Read So Far: 29


      Hosted by: Blog of Erised
      Goal: Leader (19+ books)
      Read So Far: 5

      Hosted by: Bookish
      Goal: Married With Children (50+ books)
      Read So Far: 17

      Hosted by: Falling for YA
      Goal: Bronze (10 books) - though I might try for Silver (25 books)
      Read So Far: 7

      7 comments:

      1. Wow, sounds like a good month! I loved Angelfall. Thanks for giving me more to add to my TBR pile :)

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      2. Is the guy in Anne Eliot's book ice-hockey player (the synopsis just says hockey)?? Because I just got really excited.

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        1. Yes, it is ice-hockey. Guess that makes you love him already? :-)

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      3. Oh my! So many books! How do you do it? In just one month? Wow! I really want to read the Sea of Tranquility! Heard nothing but great things about it!I also want to read this song will save your life. Sounds like a cool read! Congrats on all your achievements this month!

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      4. You've done well Nicole! You have read lots of awesome books! I'm off to read your Obsession review!

        Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace

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      5. Oooh- I loved Angelfall! I still need to read the next one though. I've been wanting to read This Song Will Save Your Life for ages too.
        Sea of Tranquility looks great as well- I'll have to check it out :)

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