Waiting On Wednesday: Sixteen, or What Happened to April?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: Stunning (Pretty Little Liars #11)
Author: Sara Shepard
Publication Date: 5 June 2012
Summary (courtesy of goodreads.com):

Full of darker secrets, juicier scandals, and deadlier plot twists, the latest arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling series continues to deliver fast-paced, tension-ridden drama. 

After Alison DiLaurentis tried to kill them, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna tried to get their lives back on track. But these girls just can’t stay out of trouble. First there was their disastrous trip to Jamaica, and their summer breaks were no less eventful. Now a new A is stalking them, taunting them with the very secrets these pretty little liars have been trying to forget. But this A doesn’t just want to blackmail the girls—this A is out for blood.

Oh come on. It's Pretty Little Liars. If there's anything certain in this universe, it's that I will read and simultaneously worship and loathe anything in this series.

But more importantly (or not, if you don't care...):

Oh HI THERE! You may not have noticed, but I disappeared for most of April. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was all of April. The posts that went up were scheduled long, long ago. This blog has been running itself for the entire month, and now I'm starting to wonder how it has been an entire month since I set foot...or something...here.

Mostly I've been sick. The kind of sick that makes you want to throw something at any sort of light source in the room, if only you had the strength. That meant my computer and I spent a much-less-than-usual-but-still-probably-too-much amount of time together. And those book things, with the tiny words on all the pages? Those weren't really my friends either. I tried to read, and I tried to blog, all from my deathbed (that's a bit dramatic, but haven't we all been a little dramatic lately?), but ultimately the illness of doom won out, and I spent most of the month just laying there.*

Then I finally started to feel better, hopped on Twitter for the first time in weeks (thanks GetGlue, for keeping my account up to date with all those sticker updates), and I find that someone has let the drama llama loose. I don't really feel like commenting on all of that, but it honestly made me wonder if I even wanted to come back to this blog after all. I mean, I work with unruly children and their even-more-poorly-behaving parents every day. I deal with enough crazy in real life. I don't want to come home at the end of the day, wanting to just relax and check out the latest in books, and be met with MORE AND EVEN CRAZIER CRAZY!! I mean, come on people. Seriously? What Kristi did was wrong and she...kind of-ish...apologized. If you want to continue to support her, do that. If you don't, then don't. For those of us not directly involved, it shouldn't really be much more complicated than that, but it was made to be SO MUCH THE CRAZY by SO MANY PEOPLE that I couldn't fathom what attracted me to this community in the first place...

And then I thought about it and read some less dramatic people's posts on the issue. And I had this epiphany. Oh, that's right, books!. Books are why I started this blog. And books are why I am going to continue to blog. If my lack of support for the drama llama monster bothers you, you don't have to visit. Trust me, I'll consider it a favor.

...although I do apologize for hijacking my own WOW post and being ever-so-slightly dramatic.

*I did get out of bed one day to go to the YA or Bust! tour and see the likes of Stephanie Perkins and Gayle Forman. I pretty much ruined the whole event by coughing and sniffling through it, and I apologize if you were there and really wished I would just leave already and stop spreading my germs, but OMGHFSkJEH!!! I met Stephanie Perkins and she is so so so so fantastical!

Mini Revews: Mercy, My Soul To Take, Twisted

Mini Reviews are my thoughts on books I've recently read, in three sentences or less.

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

I was really intrigued by this book, but ultimately felt let down by the choppy writing and the totally obvious "mystery" that is its core plot point.  I still want to read the next book in the series though, so it must not have been that bad.

 

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

So I kind of lurved this book, mostly.  Except WHY ARE TEENAGERS ALWAYS FALLING IN LOVE IN LIKE, TWELVE MINUTES?!  Seriously, go on a date or do something other than have a nervous breakdown first, yeah?

 

Twisted by Sara Shepard

It's no secret that these books aren't exactly a literary goldmine.  They're horrible, but I can't stop reading them.  I know some people are upset that the series was picked back up after its supposed "ending" a couple of years ago, but I'm more than willing to keep reading these little pieces of purgatory.

waiting on wednesday: five

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: Twisted (Pretty Little Liars #9)
Author: Sara Shepard
Release Date: 5 July 2011
Summary (courtesy of goodreads.com):

It’s been a year since the torturous notes from A stopped and the mystery of Alison DiLaurentis’s disappearance was finally put to rest. Now seniors in high school, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily are older, but they’re not any wiser. The Pretty Little Liars have more secrets than ever - twisted secrets that could destroy the perfect lives they’ve worked so hard to rebuild.

Aria’s jealous of her boyfriend’s new exchange student. Spencer’s getting a little too cozy with her soon-to-be-stepbrother. Hanna’s one scandalous photo away from ruining her dad’s Senate campaign. And Emily will do anything to get a swim scholarship.

Worst of all: Last spring break in Jamaica, they did something unforgivable. The girls are desperate to forget that fateful night, but they should know better than anyone that all secrets wash ashore … eventually.

Okay, here's the thing about the Pretty Little Liars series.  I hate it.  It's awful and horribly written and has absolutely no merit whatsoever.  That said, OMG I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK!  For me, these books are like watching a car crash: you don't really want to see it, but it has numbed your mind to the point that you can't look away.  That's just what reading these books is like!  My intelligence rapidly diminishes as a result of their pure horrendousness, but I just CAN'T STOP READING!  I can't wait to find out what these girls have gotten themselves into now.