Beauty And The Books: Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter

I just finished Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter and I loved it! It's the first book in the Shadow Falls series. I don't know what it is about series' that I love so much, but I just can't get enough. I'm notorious for reading multiple series' at a time too. I always have this big TBR list so there's always other books I'm excited to read, which distracts me from finishing one series at a time. I will read one book in a series, and even if I loved it I usually will go to a different series before picking up the next book in the series that I just finished reading. In my eyes it's like watching TV. You don't want to sit there and watch the same show, episode after episode, over and over again because you'd get bored. That's how I am with books. I don't want to ruin a good thing so I like to "change the channel" after each "episode". Catch my drift? :)

In Born At Midnight, the main character Kylie is having a tough time. Her parents are going through a divorce, her Nana just passed away, her boyfriend broke up with her, and for some reason this guy dressed as a soldier is following her around. Anyone would be weirded out to have some random guy following them around, and popping up at random times and places. What makes this situation even creepier is that only Kylie can see him. Her parents naturally are worried about her, so they have her visit with a psychiatrist to try and figure out what's really going on. Kylie is a good kid, but with everything going on at home she decides to go to a party with a friend of hers to try and unwind. While at the party, the cops show up and take everyone to the police station because of underage drinking, and for drugs that were found at the party. Kylie was not drinking or doing any drugs, but because she lied to her mom about the party she gets in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Naturally her mother is worried about her, but Kylie's mom is not the motherly type. She's cold natured, and doesn't show a lot of affection. When her mom picks her up from the police station, she tells Kylie that her psychiatrist had recommended she attend a summer camp, and after the party fiasco, her mom decides that summer camp is the best way to get to the bottom of Kylie's issues. The camp her psychiatrist recommends is called Shadow Falls. Kylie does not want to go to camp, and she wishes her mom wouldn't make her go. When they arrive to the bus station, Kylie starts to take in the other kids that are also attending Shadow Falls. They all appear to be gothic, and look like the kind of kids that are up to no good. She begs her mom one more time to please let her stay home, but her mom doesn't budge, and sends her off to camp.

Shadow Falls is not a camp for troubled youth like she had thought. When she arrives and the camp leaders are giving their introductions, everyone won't stop staring at Kylie. She's really confused and doesn't understand what's going on. Things get even more uncomfortable when a fellow camper raises her hand, and asks in front of the entire camp "What's she doing here?", pointing right at Kylie. Soon after that, Kylie finds out what kind of camp Shadow Falls really is, and needless to say she's pretty freaked out. Shadow Falls is a camp for supernaturals. Everyone attending the camp is either a vampire, a werewolf, a shape shifter, a witch, or a fairy. Kylie is totally creeped out and doesn't understand why in the world she's. All she knows is that she's just a regular teenage girl. She wonders why her psychiatrist would recommend this camp for her in the first place, and she can't wrap her head around the fact that supernaturals even exist.

After everyone arrives at camp and the initial introductions have been made, Kylie goes in for a meeting with Holiday, one of the camp directors. Holiday explains to Kylie that her psychiatrist recommended Shadow Falls because she believes that Kylie is a supernatural, or at least half of one. What led her to believe this is Kylie's brain pattern, and her ability to see ghosts. Every supernatural has a different brain pattern than regular humans, and they all have the ability to read said patterns. Kylie is beyond confused, she's scared, and she really wishes that this wasn't happening to her. She's not even the slightest bit convinced that she's a supernatural. She is looking for every excuse in the book, and every possible explanation, for why her brain pattern is different and why she could be seeing this ghost.

Throughout the rest of the book, we follow Kylie through her first few weeks at camp as she tries to discover who she is, what she is, and how she came to be that way. We get to watch her come into her own, form new friendship's, and witness a love triangle that is starting to unfold. I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Supernatural YA Fiction. There are five books in this series, along with a few side stories. Born At Midnight received 4.15 stars out of a possible five on GoodReads, and the rest of the books in the series also have above a four star rating. 

I hope ya'll enjoyed today's Beauty And The Books post! Let me know in the comments below if you've read this series and what your thoughts and opinions are on it.

xoxo,

Casey

Book Worm Series: TBR and How To Save Money On Books

Hey ya'll!!

I'm finishing up City of Heavenly Fire and wanted to share what books I have that are waiting "To Be Read" (TBR). When I buy books I usually buy in bulk. Especially if I'm on a reading high and I'm finishing books in three days. Also, I usually have a list of books that I want and can never decide on just one or two, so I end up getting five.

I normally buy books through my Barnes and Noble NOOK account, but sometimes I get the actual book. I like to check Half-Price Books (HPB) first before I buy them any other way because - now I'm going to state the obvious here - they are half price. Most of the time the books I end up getting at HPB are in really good condition, with slight to no wear at all, so I really recommend checking there before anywhere else. If HPB doesn't have what I'm looking for, I check out Target. They typically have all the New Releases and Popular books. They are also almost always at a discounted price compared to buying them from Barnes and Noble, or bookstores alike. If Target has what I'm looking for, I compare their price to the NOOK price and make my decision that way. For the most part, Target and NOOK books are pretty comparable price-wise. Hard covers are going to be more expensive, while the paperbacks at Target are usually about the same price as a NOOK book with maybe a $1.00 difference. I notice a lot of times NOOK has random discounts on their books. I remember shortly after Christmas, NOOK was having a sale on select NOOK books and all three books from The Infernal Devices trilogy were selling for $4.99. I got the whole trilogy for only $15.00. I was pretty excited about that find because if I were to have purchased them all in hardcover, they would have been $15.00+ per book. Books can get pretty expensive if you're buying more than one, and if you're a serial reader and tend to blast through books in under a weeks time. Do a little research, go to a couple different places, and more than likely you are going to save some money on your book purchases, and probably discover some new reads to add to your TBR list.

My TBR list is in no particular order. These are just the books that I have in my collection that I haven't read yet, but am planning on reading soon. I also plan on doing Book Reviews on them once I've finished.

Book One:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (NOOK Book)
After reading FanGirl, and falling head over heals, I wanted to read something else by Rainbow Rowell. Eleanor & Park has received lots of love, winning the 2013 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and being a 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book. From what I can gather from the synopsis, Eleanor & Park is set in the 80's and is about two teenagers who are social outcasts. They fall in love with each other and bond over their personal interests. Eleanor is bullied in school over the way she looks and dresses, and suffers from an unstable family life. Park is there to help her through all of this. I loved Rowell's work in FanGirl, and have heard so many great things about this one, so I'm really excited to read this one.

Book Two:
Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira (NOOK Book)
I have a feeling that this book is going to be a Holy Grail Favorite of mine. Based on the synopsis on Barnes and Noble, Love Letters To The Dead is about a girl named Laurel who receives an English assignment. The assignment is to write a letter to a dead person. Laurel writes her first letter to Kurt Cobain, but doesn't stop there. She continues writing to famous dead people, to name a few - Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more. She writes about her life and own personal struggles, which eventually help her learn to cope with her sisters death. I cannot wait to dive into this one!

Book Three:
Half Bad by Sally Green (NOOK Book)
Half Bad is the first book in a new trilogy about witches in modern-day England. There are White witches (the good witches),and Black witches (the bad witches). The 16 year old main character, Nathan, is neither one or the other, he is actually both. His father is the most powerful, evil Black witch, and Nathan's mom is unfortunately dead. Poor Nathan is not welcome by either side, and is kept in a cage and tortured. He needs to escape before he turns 17. At 17 he is supposed to receive three gifts from his dad and come into his own as a witch. If he doesn't, he will die. Half Bad sounds like a fun, thrilling read that I'm pretty excited to get into.

Book Four:
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (NOOK Book)
Thirteen Reason Why is a New York Times Bestseller and and International Bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold. The main character Clay Jensen comes home from school one day to find a package on his porch addressed to him. Inside, it is full of recorded cassette tapes from Hannah Baker. Hannah is his former classmate, who committed suicide two weeks prior. On the tapes, Hannah explains why she made the decision to commit suicide. Clay learns a lot from Hannah through the tapes. He witnesses her pain, the truth about why she did what she did, all while facing facts about himself. I feel like I'm going to need a box of tissues, wine, and possibly Starbucks because I don't think I'm going to be able to put this one down.

Book Five:
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (NOOK Book)
The 5th Wave is the first book in a new dystopian series. I'm particularly fond of dystopian reads thanks to The Hunger Games and Divergent. The 5th Wave is about a girl named Cassie who is an unlucky survivor of the "waves". After the 1st wave there was darkness, after the 2nd only the lucky ones escaped, after the 3rd only the unlucky survived, and after the 4th - trust no one. It's the beginning of the 5th wave and Cassie is running from "them". From what I can gather, the "them" are aliens who look like humans, but they kill every person they find. Cassie believes that the best way to stay alive, is to stay alone. She soon meets mysterious Evan Walker, who may be her only hope to saving herself and rescuing her brother. Will she give up? Will she learn to trust? Will she surrender? I'm curious to find out!

Book Six:
Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (NOOK Book)
I read the first book, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and enjoyed it so I decided to get the second book in the series when it came out. Like the first book, Hollow City is full of creepy old pictures of "peculiar children" with special "abilities". This book begins in 1940, and picks up right where the first book left off. I can't really explain what this book is supposed to be about without explaining the first book. Basically it's about this group of kids that live in another world, a spirit like world, where they never age. Jacob's grandfather was part of that world but was able to get out and live his own life to an old age. Jacob discovers this world and rescues the peculiar children and brings them into the real world. This book is supposed to be about their journey after they have escaped from Miss Peregrine and her spirit world.

Book Seven:
Shadow Falls: The Beginning Books 1 & 2 by C.C. Hunter
I came across this series while browsing in Target. The book is a two-in-one, with the first two books in the Shadow Falls series, Born at Midnight and Awake at Dawn. This series is about a girl named Kylie Galen who has a lot of negatives going on in her life. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend breaks up with her, her grandmother dies, and she's being stalked by a strange man that only she can see. Her parents are worried about her mental state so they send her to a psychologist who then sends her to Shadow Falls Camp. Both Kylie and her parents believe the camp is for troubled teens, but they all thought wrong. The camp is for all paranormal beings: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, and shape shifters. Kylie has to first deal with the fact that all these creatures are real and she is now living amongst them, while figuring out what she is in the process. This series seems to be right up my ally because I love paranormal fiction and think they're so fun to read.

I hope you enjoyed getting a look at my TBR list. If you've read any of these books, let me know your thoughts on them in the comments below!


xoxo,
Casey