"Flawed" (Book 1) by Cecelia Ahern

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern is about Celestine who leads a good life, follows the rules, and is an "A" student.   When she breaks a rule, there are life-changing repercussions.  In her society, perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment.

I really enjoyed this book!  Celestine is a great character and I was rooting for her all the way!  The story flows along well and the action really picks up at the end.  Looks like there is going to be a book 2 that I look forward to reading as well!
(Gerard's review, 5+ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday

Karen's:

He had no idea who had chosen him, or why, but he felt certain he'd been chosen wisely and he was eager to reap his reward--not only for the money, but for the adventure, for the story, in a life that had been stagnant for too long. 

From page 25 of The Decent Proposal by Kemper DonovanW.

Teachers tend to discriminate against highly creative students, labeling them as troublemakers.  In response, many children quickly learn to get with the program, keeping their original ideas to themselves.

From page 10 of Originals--How Non-conformists Move the World by Adam Grant.  (Non-fiction)

Gerard's:

The boys start to scream as they watch their mother being taken away.  They run to her and try to reach her, but the Whistleblowers hold them back.

From page 12 of Flawed by Cecelia Ahern.

As Gillian approaches, his mother buries herself in his arms and starts to cry, but it's like no cry he's ever heard before.  She wails, long and low, like a wounded animal that any decent man would have the sense to kill.

From page 16 of Shelter by Jung Yun.  (My review was posted yesterday.)

"Are you kidding me?  They mentioned the five of us.  And it sounded like they'd done this before."

From page 31 of Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs.  (Click link for review)

Be sure to see our review of Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a must read that we both liked!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. 

Happy Reading!

"Shelter" by Jung Yun

Shelter by Jung Yun centers on a man named Kung Cho.  He and his wife have been having money problems for years and with a young son to raise, it is not easy.  But now he has to have his mom and dad move in with him because of a terrible incident.  He never got love from them, but money was never an issue.  Will this new setup work or will a bad situation get even worse? 

I really enjoyed this book a lot!  The interaction between the characters was so good and I really never knew how it was all going to turn out!  The writing was excellent!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys--A Must Read!

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys takes place in 1941. Lina is preparing for art school and all that summer has to offer. Then the Soviet Secret Police break into her home and taker her, her mother and her younger brother away. Her father was taken captive too, but kept apart from them. Will they get back together? Will they ever survive? What do the Soviets want from them? I thought this book was outstanding! I was into it all the way. The writing was so good too that I could really picture it in my mind. A Must Read!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review, 5 stars:
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is a very good historical fiction book about Lithuanians who were deported during WW II by the Russians.  This book is about a 15-yr.-old girl, Lena, who is very brave and loves to draw.  She is the cousin of Joana, one of the main characters in Salt to the Sea, that is taken by the NKVD during at night along with her mother and younger brother, Jonas.  First, they are crammed into a train with a bunch of others who were "on the list" going to who knows where.  Lena becomes friends with Andrius, a boy her age who is also on the train.  The second part of the book is about her time at the farm where the Russians try to force them to sign a paper admitting they are criminals and willing to work on the farm for 25 years.  Those who sign get treated slightly better than those who don't.  Andrius signs but Lena does not so Andrius tries his best to help her and her family.  Living in unsanitary conditions with barely anything to eat, she is forced to dig with a trowel all day or carry 50 lb. sacks of grain.  Can things get any worse?  Oh yes.  The third part of the book takes Lena, her mother and brother to Siberia but not Andrius, way up into the Arctic Circle where they must use the bricks and wood that the Russians brought along to build barracks and a bakery for the soldiers.  They have to make huts for themselves out of driftwood, moss and whatever else they can scrounge up from the trash the soldiers throw away during temperatures below zero!  All through this book, you wonder along with them if they will survive and if they will ever be reunited with their father and Andrius.       

The author does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to other characters as Lena meets them so it is pretty easy to keep them straight.  I really liked this book better than Salt to the Sea because it had better continuity with just telling the story from Lena's viewpoint.  I couldn't help but thinking how I would react if I was in that situation.  I'm pretty sure I would have given up.  These people went through awful things but the book did have some high points with the romance thread, the birthday and Christmas celebrations.  This book stayed with me after I was done and needed time to process it before jumping into my next read.  I must say, I liked this as much as I liked The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Also liked Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys but not as much as this one.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Future Shock" by Elizabeth Briggs--WOW!

Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs is a gripping science fiction murder mystery involving five teens, Adam, Elena, Chris, Trent and Zoe, who are transported 10 years into the future. All but Adam is in foster care. Aethon Corporation offers them a large amount of money to sign up for the mission to report back on the technology they find. Instead, things do not happen according to the plan and the teens find themselves 30 years into the future and make a scary discovery that motivates them to figure a way to change the path they are on.

This book is really good with lots of adventure, relationships and things to make you think. I was confused a bit about some things, but overall I enjoyed it very much. I especially liked Elena who tells the story from her view. It was very cool she had such a great memory and a desire to help others. I liked the message of this book that the future is based on our current choices and that it is worth living. It’s definitely a page turner and I was eager to see how it would end. (For some discussion questions for those who have read this, please see the spoiler alert after Gerard's review below.)
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

Gerard's review:
Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs is about five young teens who are down on their luck.  They all need money for different reasons so when a company offers them money that they think will solve all their problems, they jump at the chance.  But once they get into their mission, they find out the one thing they were not to do, they might have to or else!

WOW!  This is so good!  If you like action, this book is packed with it!  I really enjoyed the lead character, but also the others.  It kept me turning pages quickly because I was eager to see how it would all play out.  I kept saying "this is really good" over and over as I read it.  LOVED IT!  Give this book involving time travel a read; you will be glad you did!
(Gerard's review 4/8/16, 5++ stars)

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read this yet, stop reading here, but if you have read it, I’d like to know your thoughts on these things:


(1) Which future technology did you like best? I liked the cars that could drive themselves.

(2) Could anyone explain to me how the reports fit into Elena’s pocket?

(3) I assume Elena dropped Zoe’s drawings just before getting in to go back, but don’t understand why they felt they couldn’t report anything they saw.

(4) Anyone else confused at the end were Adam and Elena say they’ll be ready 30 years to meet their younger selves and to help Zoe and Trent? I didn’t get that because the present was done. I get that the future didn’t yet really happen, but the present did. It wasn’t like they would be going again.

(5) Do you think you would like to know your future? I’m not sure if I would want to or not.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!