Epic Recs: January

Epic Recs is hosted by Judith at Paper Riot and Amber at Books of Amber. It's where you pair up with a reader friend and recommend (*cough*force*cough*) a book to them. As Judith says, it's like truth or dare without the truth. 

I'm pairing up with my brain twin Molli from Books and Whimsy. We’re always recommending books to each other but rarely actually read them for whatever reason. We’ve made a goal/promise to ourselves and each other to read more ‘me’ books in 2014. We both got bogged down with review books in 2013 and need to get back to reading more for pleasure, so we thought Epic Recs would help...plus then we don't have to constantly listen to each other saying "Read this book. When are you going to read this book? Have you read this book yet?"

For our first month of Epic Recs, Molli is making me read If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, a book that broke her feels and that she talks about constantly (and which I'm way overdue to read anyway since I own a gorgeous signed, personalized copy AND Emily is one of the sweetest people ever), and I'm making her read Amy and Roger's Epic Detour, which is one of my favourite books ever, and which I've been trying to get her to read for ages, and even bought her a copy a few months ago lol. 

 

 

Have you read either of these books? What did you think?

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Recommend The Most

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Books I Spend a Lot of Time Pimping

 
The Harry Potter series
The Harry Potter books are pretty much my favourite books ever. I talk about them a lot and I’m always stunned when I find out there are people left in the world who haven’t read them. My ten-year-old nephew loves the movies but doesn’t like to read, but I’m thinking of trying him on Harry Potter and seeing if I can make a bibliophile out of him yet!

Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

I’m not a die hard fan of post-apocalyptic books (I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read but they’re not usually my first choice), but Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night are not just my favorite post-apocalyptic books, they’re among my favourite books ever.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

An incredible, beautiful, swoonworthy contemporary YA. Books like this are the reason YA contemp is my favourite genre.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Another example of YA contemporary at its finest.

Scarlet by AC Gaughen

Robin Hood. Need I say more? This is told from the perspective of Robin’s friend Will Scarlet, except that Scarlet is a girl. Full of twists and turns, romance, and action, this book is just plain amazing.

Splintered by AG Howard

A brilliant spin on Alice in Wonderland. This is up there with my favourite books ever.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Do I really need to say why this book is worth recommending? There’s just something magical about it - maybe it’s Paris, maybe it’s Etienne St. Clair, maybe it’s the fact that Stephanie Perkins has the ability to make me giggle harder than my 3-year-old nephew. It’s just amazing. AND if you haven’t read it yet or if you’ve read it and want to reread it, my friend Molli from Once Upon a Prologue is co-hosting an ANNA Read-Along starting April 1st!

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

This is a classic for a reason. Funny, charming, quirky - Anne of Green Gables is a Canadian staple, and I grew up with her. To me this is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their life.

The Passport to Peril series by Maddy Hunter

This is a series I discovered before I started book blogging. It’s cozy mystery and it satisfies both my funny bone and my travel bug since each book is set in a different country. This is a series that, unfortunately, most of the people I know haven’t even heard of, let alone read, so I’m always trying to pimp it.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Another example of why contemporary YA is my favourite genre. Road trip + music + cute boy + relatable girl + amazing secondary characters + surprisingly emotional = one of the best books ever.

Honourable mentions

Most of the time I have trouble coming up with 10 but this time I had trouble narrowing it down, so I'm cheating a little. A few other books I’m constantly telling people they should read: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, and Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally. 

And of course I spend quite a bit of time pimping my own books. Does that count? *cough* WAITING FOR THE STORM comes out two weeks from today *cough*

What are some of the books you recommend the most? Tell me below or leave a comment to your TTT and I'll come visit!

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Top Spot: September

What was your favorite read this month? What was your Top Spot?

Top Spot is a new monthly blog meme hosted by the Skype Sisters. Every month we will get together to share our favorite read from that month and we would love for you join us! This meme will take place over the last weekend of every month, giving us all a chance to gush over the great reads we've encountered and bring an awesome ending to the current month. The Top Spot book can be anything you've read, whether it's old or new, an ARC or a finished copy. All September reads counts! Be sure to check out Skype Sisters blog for details!

*****

My top spot for September

I didn't read that many books in September because I was so insanely busy, but my favorite book was a toss-up between Paranormalcy by Kiersten White or Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson...my pick was...

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

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I wrote quite a long review for this book because I loved it so much. I know that a lot of people have read it, but if you haven't, I would definitely recommend it.

Linky is open through Sunday night at midnight.

Follow Friday Fun (15) & TGIF @ GReads (11)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:
Brightwing by Sullivan Lee
Shannon Hart Blog Tour - Until the End of Forever
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Memes:
In My Mailbox Week 8
Cover Crazy Week 3
Top 10 Tuesday: Books I Want to Reread
Tune in Tuesday Week 3
Waiting on Wednesday (6), WWW Wednesday (16)

Other:
200 Follower giveaway winner
Shannon Hart Blog Tour - Author Guest Post

*****

Follow Friday Fun Week 15: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!

This week's question: What book that hasn't been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character? 

The first one that comes to mind is Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, because I just finished reading it earlier this week and loved it. I pictured it as a movie in my head, so I’d love to actually see it on the big screen. As for the cast, I have absolutely no clue. I hardly ever picture characters in books as actors, so it’s really hard for me to cast characters. If I heard suggestions, I could tell you whether I thought they fit or not, but it's really hard for me to actually come up with possibilities on my own...weird, I know.

*****

TGIF at GReads Week 11: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Banned Books: How do you feel about the censorship of the freedom to read? Do you think the education system needs to be more strict on what children are exposed to in books?

As a reader and a writer, I don’t agree with censorship. Hell, even as a music lover and a TV/movie watcher, I don’t agree with censorship. I think we should have the right to read, watch, and listen to what we want, and to speak our minds about all of it. 

I’ve read a bunch of banned books. Some of them were part of the curriculum in high school (The Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men, to name a few). A lot of books that have great lessons and messages also happen to have some questionable content. I think it all evens out in the end, and I know that a lot of the mandatory books I read and loved in high school, I probably never would have read on my own just for pleasure. Other than curriculum books, I think libraries should carry a wide variety – if kids want to read, that desire shouldn’t be hindered, it should be encouraged and nurtured.

*****

Well, happy Friday, book lovers! Hard to believe tomorrow's the 1st of October. With this being banned book week, how do you feel about banned books? If you participate in either of these memes (or even if you don't), I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-) Have a great weekend!

 

Book Review: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Published: May 4th, 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
344 pages (paperback)
Genre: Contemporary young adult/romance
Acquired this book: From the library
Warning: may include spoilers
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Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. I finished it a few days ago and haven’t been able to get all my thoughts together because there were so many I didn’t know where to begin. This review is going to be a bit different (and longer) than my usual reviews, just because when I really enjoy a book, I love to share its awesomeness with everyone, and I have a lot to say about it.

I’ve always dreamed of going on an epic road trip like the one Amy and Roger took. I love road trips, but rarely get to take them anymore, so this book was the perfect way for me to live vicariously, and I enjoyed every second of this adventure.

The characters:
I love Amy and Roger, separately and together. Amy was so relatable to me; she’d been through a trauma, and her emotions were so real – the pain, the avoidance, the anger, the awkwardness around other people, all of it. It was so great to watch her blossom and find herself again, and learn new things about herself.

Roger is just plain amazing. He’s sweet without being one of those guy characters who’s so perfect he’s unbelievable. I also enjoyed watching his transformation - although subtler than Amy’s, it was still interesting to see. I thought these two were great together – the way they quickly learned each other’s moods, habits, expressions and body language was so real and it was a lot of fun to see them discovering things about each other without really realizing it.

I also loved all the quirky characters the pair met along the way.

The story itself:
Well-written, laugh-out-loud funny, achingly real and believable. We know that Amy’s father died, and we know how, but it takes a long time for us to learn the details, and I was so curious. I was sitting in the library when I read the part where Amy finally tells Roger what happened, and I had to stop reading because I was crying. Seriously. Her self-blame and guilt were so real, it broke my heart.

Another of my favorite things about this book was the little extras – the pictures, the sketches, the playlists, the facts about the states they visited. I learned so much from this book! In fact, I loved those parts so much that I bookmarked them all to show my mum – my only real-life book loving friend, hence my love and appreciation for my fellow book bloggers lol - and even after I’d shown her, I found her flipping through the book again a little while later. She doesn’t read YA (except for Harry Potter), but I’ve been wondering if I could get her started with this book. ;-)

Possible spoiler alert: I don’t want to say I was unhappy with the ending, but I suppose there was a part of me that was slightly disappointed. Not disappointed enough to stop loving this book, but the romantic in me, and the side of me that likes for books to be wrapped up in neat little bows – even though I know that’s not how life itself is – was a bit sad. I realize that at the heart of it, this story was about Amy finding herself and making a lot of really important self-discoveries, but the slightly ambiguous way things were left between Amy and Roger…well, I wasn’t satisfied. I did wonder how it could possibly work out for them, so I know this was the more realistic ending than some ideal happily ever after, especially when they’re both so young. BUT, the ending leaves it open for a possible sequel – I have no idea if Ms Matson ever intends to do a sequel, but I’d say she at least has the option for one, and I know she’d have a lot of happy fans if she carried on with Amy and Roger’s tale. (Please Morgan, please please pleeeeease!)

How this book affected me on a person level:
*Amy’s dad’s death really hit me hard, because my dad died a long time ago and we had a really special bond, like Amy had with her dad. Whether it was an accident or something else, and even when there’s absolutely nothing anyone could have done, when a kid loses a parent, there’s going to be guilt there, and possibly even self-blame. I could really relate to what Amy was going through, even though my dad died of a prolonged illness, not a car accident, and I was much younger than she was when it happened.

*I said at the beginning that I’ve always dreamed of going on an epic road trip…well, I’d be lying if I said I’ve never had an epic road trip of my own, even if it was a lot different. I’ve had a few really terrific road trips, but only one American one. A few years ago, I met a girl online and we became fast friends. We talked all day every day, had tons in common, and it felt like we’d known each other our entire lives. Just a few months after meeting online, we decided it was time to meet in person…only, she lived in Kentucky and I live in Ontario, Canada. So, she drove from Kentucky to here (13 hours), stayed with us a couple days, then the two of us headed back to KY. After a couple days there, we headed out with her mother and nephew to Virginia to visit family. So that’s a 13 hour straight trip, followed by a 9-10 hour trip. While we were there, we visited DC and Maryland. On the way home, we split from her mother and nephew – they went home, and we came back here, but took a different route (another 9-10 hour drive). So I saw 9 states in as many days: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York (the only state I’d been to previously). Amy and Roger hit 14 states, so we weren’t far behind. That girl and I are no longer friends, but this book made my heart ache a little with the memories of our own epic adventure, especially when Amy and Roger were in Kentucky and Virginia. Our playlist consisted of non-stop U2 (we met in a U2 fan forum), and we had some amazing food along the way, just like Amy and Roger. We also met some pretty memorable characters.  And like Amy, I learned quite a bit about myself on that trip.

This is one of those books that it seems like everyone has read, but if you haven’t, you really should. I know I’ve rambled on endlessly, but there’s so much more I could say, I just really and truly loved this book.