I ended up enjoying this book. It wasn't really action packed but some interesting things were happening by the middle of the book. It really didn't help that I was extremely distracted at the time I started reading this. By the end though I was definitely curious to see what happens next and I look forward to reading book 2.

Before I Fall was a fantastic book. I feel like anyone and everyone could relate to at least one of the characters in this book. For me it was definitely Sam, and on so many levels. From the time I was 5 until around 8 I was bullied by the older kids on the street I grew up on. I remember them calling me names like "Trasha", popping my bike tires, and at one point making the most disgusting concoction of laundry detergent, dirt, twigs and leaves in a glass and trying to make me drink it. It was awful. I can't remember what changed or how but after awhile it all stopped and from then on we were all the best of friends for many years. I also remember starting my first year in middle school and trying to fit in and get noticed. And I accomplished that by making another girls life miserable. She was my own personal Juliet Sykes. I tortured that poor girl for the entire year of 6th grade. All the while at home for me things were falling apart, my grandmother who had raised me since birth was diagnosed with lung cancer. No one was really aware of just how devistating it all was because in school it seemed as if I had no worries and everything was all sunshine and roses. I'll never forget running into this girl later in the summer at the pubic pool. Something huge had changed for me, I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore and I felt nothing but deep remorse for what I had done. I walked right up to her and appoligized and unbeknownst to me then, that was the start of an amazing friendship between the two of us. When my grandmother passed away year later it was her hand holding mine throughout the funeral. I never really bullied anyone after that either. I still had my mean girl moments, as I think most teenage girls do, but I really had so many friends in every shape and size and made an effort not to judge others so harshly.

Wow, now that I'm done rambling on about my personal life lol, that's the thing though, this beautiful book made me think of all of this. It truely spoke to anyone who had ever been an a young kid just trying to figure out the kind of person they want to be and what they will ultimately be remembered for. Nothing really ever felt rushed or unrealistic about Sam's journey. It all flowed so well. She was not a perfect person and while it was hard to accept sone of the things she had done, you couldn't not feel her struggles. All the characters literally jumped of the pages. they were so real! I absolutely adored Kent. I mean come on, how could you not?! Itwas all too easy to picture who that was for me in high school too! He was a skater boy who i had started seeing in the summer, he was funny, gorgeous, and an absolute sweetheart. He marched to his own beat though and never fit in. So naturally once school started again I broke it off and avoided him like he had the plague. It's silly to think of now, but I was a fool then. I let an awesome guy go just in fear because he wasn't "cool" enough for me to date. So, like I said I really feel like anyone could read this and be transported back to their own high school experience, or it could speak to what they are currently going through. And that ending!!!! It was glorious and heart wrenching at the same time! I really enjoyed the journey this book took me on, seriously if you haven't read this book yet.....DO IT!

The Lost Prince was a decent book. I absolutely LOVE the Nevernever and most of the characters in it! I enjoyed being brought back in to this enchanting place, but I can't say that I loved Ethan Chase. He really just did not do it for me. I honestly wish there would have been less him and more everyone else. Especially a certain other young prince! I was thrilled to meet that person in this book and really hope that he gets a book or two of his own...very, very soon.

Arcadia Falls was a pretty good read. It had most of the things that I have come to expect when reading a Carol Goodman novel. She seriously knows how to set a scene. This book was not action packed by any means, but the writing was beautiful and haunting and it made you feel like you were right in the middle of a gothic fairytale. The end felt a little overdone for me. I was a little confused by the very end and honestly had to reread some of the last pages just to make sure I really understood the final few twists and turns.

3.5 stars. I have to admit it took me awhile to get into this book. At first Seraphina seemed a little cold and distant. And the lingo was a little confusing and hard to follow. I later found a glossary at the end of the book : / that would have really helped me out in the beginning, I wish I would have known about it before I finished the book. I am really glad that I stuck with it though because the second half of the book was captivating. I devoured the last 50% of this book in one night. I stayed up until 2am finishing this because there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep not knowing how it all turned out! Rachel Hartman created a fantastic world with very colorful characters and I look forward to reading the next book in this series!

There are a few movies I have watched with my guy, Jon, over the years that were so strange and disturbing that after watching we would look at each other and just know we both felt seriously screwed up after what we saw. Its so hard to even put into words, it's this devastating wrongness, like such a complex brilliantly scary thing should not exist in this world. These movies are forever etched in my brain now, remembered for their "wrongness", their brilliant and unnerving quality that just left me feeling strange afterwards, Young Adult, God Bless America and most recently Seven Psychopaths. After watching something that has me spooked I crave my safe place, which involves a movie of the Disney persuasion. It's what I do when things freak me out, because its happy, safe and there is always singing! Lol Aladdin is still one of my favorites. After reading Gone Girl I feel a little like it could be Aladdin time. I feel slimy and WRONG after reading this book. It's scary and brilliant. It's true scary though, not the gory blood soaked scary, this is the psychological no hope for the future because this person is a brilliant genius that wants to make you hurt, kind of scary. Gillian Flynn knows how to write some seriously disturbed characters. I have now read 3 of her books and each one sang the tune of a superbly fucked up individual. She does this so well, they are so layered and life like, that's the scariest part!! It's sick and I like it! I enjoy reading about these deranged people, I don't know what that says about me but at least I admit it!!


The first half of the book was pretty slow paced and maybe not the most thrilling. It was a lot of set up for the second half of the book, which was a real page turner. Seriously, I want to say that right around 50% exactly was when this book grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go until the very end. The end was quite perfect too. I love that Gillian Flynn never feels the need to wrap things up in a pretty bow like a lot of other stories. She never wavers from her character's basic truths, and I think that's just great. That's not to say that there wasn't character growth or any of that jazz, there was, but I like that growth doesn't always necessarily mean better. It's just evolution, not everything evolves into the prettiest version of themselves and there is something real and great about the way Gillian Flynn captures that. I enjoyed this book just like each of the Gillian Flynn novels I read before this. I look forward to what else she comes out with in the future.


****** Just a side note: I find it rather funny to have finished this book on Valentine's Day, of all days. **********

This was a great read. It brought tears to my eyes mutiple times. It was a beautiful story about love and loss. I liked that not only was it a love story about family and a boy, it was also a love story about music. Now I am not a musician but I have a deep appreciation for music. I listen to it with my heart. What I listen to and resonate with from day to day will vary on what I am feeling and my mood at that particular time. I loved every person in this story! And that made it excruciating to read what was happening to all of them. My only complaint was that ending!!! Why?! It just ended....just like that. She makes a decision and BOOM...DONE! I get it, there is a book 2, but damn it, my library doesn't have it! Guess I'll be making a trip to the book store this weekend to buy it because I have to see what happens next.

3.5 Stars

I just finished this book and I don't even know how to put my feelings into words! I really did enjoy Thoughtless, which is quite an accomplishment for the author considering how much I disliked the main character, Kiera. One of my favorite parts if the book was probably when she finally got punched in the head! I just kept thinking..."Awesome!!! That's literally what I have been wanting all along!". Seriously, Kiera was such a naive, THOUGHTLESS person. Hence the title, I guess. I really started disliking her pretty early on too. The constant blushing whenever anyone even looked at her, or cursed. Ughhhh, come on!!! And really it only got worse as the book went on, how can someone be doing the things she does with Kellan and Denny, and still feign innocence and stupidity. Like she was totally unaware of how she was to torturing both men...please!

Ok, putting Kiera aside for a moment, I have to gush about Kellan now...he is incredible. I seriously could not get enough of him. I have always been a sucker for the tortured musician type. So he pretty much had me swooning instantly, and the more I found out about him the more I liked him. You really couldn't help rooting for him to get his happy ending, even if it was with stupid Kiera lol. And then there was Denny, poor sweet Denny. Who's only fault was what, being too trusting, or was it being a hard worker? Gezzz what a horrible guy. He, probably more so than anyone, definitely deserved a lot better than he got throughout this entire book. Even though I wanted to karate chop Keira right in her ovaries, I could see how she came to love both men. They were both amazing. As we're most of the other characters. I especially enjoyed the Dbags! Well, except for Griffin. He was definitely the ultimate douche.

I really don't know how you did it, S.C. Stephens, but you made me really like this book, in spite of how much I didn't like the main character. That in itself is nothing short of awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed all the steamy scenes in this book, it was all very sexy without being sleazy. Which I think is a hard thing to pull off. I will definitely be reading the next book to see what happens next :)

You know what was effortless, enjoying this book!! I have to say that Effortless was, in my opinion, better than Thoughtless. I think that a huge part of why I feel this way is because I found Kiera to be A LOT less infuriating in this book. It was so nice to see her grow up a little, she was not as needy and clingy as she was in the first book. There was still a time or two that I thought she was being a dumbass, but I can live with that.

Oh, Kellan Kyle, you are a dream boat. I LOVED him in Thoughtless and didn't know then that it would even be possible to love him anymore. Well, it certainly was possible. You know it's got out of hand when you start thinking that your boyfriend could learn a thing or two from a fictional character lol. Those notes were my undoing....that was impossibly sweet.

There were a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I almost wish this were the final book. I was so happy with the way everything ended and that has me petrified to see what happens in the third book. Also, with a title like Reckless, it's hard to stay positive about things!! But I guess a third book means more Kellan, so it can't be all bad :) and I am dying to see what happens with the Anna and Griffin situation. Really, I would like to see more of all the band members and how their relationships grow throughout their rising fame.