BLOG TOUR: The 13th Continuum by Jennifer Brody [GIVEAWAY]

The 13th Continuum
by Jennifer Brody
Release Date: April 19th, 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction

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Other Books in the Series: Return of the Continuums

SYNOPSIS: One thousand years after a cataclysmic event leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, the survivors take refuge in continuums designed to sustain the human race until repopulation of Earth becomes possible. Against this backdrop, a group of young friends in the underwater Thirteenth Continuum dream about life outside their totalitarian existence, an idea that has been outlawed for centuries. When a shocking discovery turns the dream into a reality, they must decide if they will risk their own extinction to experience something no one has for generations, the Surface.

REVIEW: I thought the premise of this book was very interesting. There are all kinds of post-apocalyptic tales out there, but they rarely go into much detail of how exactly groups of people managed to survive when everyone else died. This book definitely goes into those details. I thought it was really interesting to see how the different Continuums evolved over the thousand year period. It definitely makes you think what would happen if something like this was real. I hope that future books go into some of the other Continuums (that is if any of the other ones survived!).

The characters were interesting. I liked our two protagonists and I feel like I was able to understand their motivations. There were some times that I had a hard time with Myra, but just because I felt like she was being too secretive or paranoid. Tinker is an interesting character too and I’ll be excited to see how he grows throughout the series. Secondary characters added a nice layer to the overall story, but as characters they were pretty flat. Hopefully they’ll be able to develop more as the series progresses as well.

The plot of the story was just okay for me. I thought the end had a nice amount of suspense, but earlier in the story it just seemed like problems were solved a little too easily. It just makes it seem like what the characters were trying to do actually wasn’t that hard and I found it difficult to believe that in 1,000 years they were the first to put this plan into action.

Overall this book had some definitely pluses, but some minuses as well. I’m not sure at this point whether or not I’ll be continuing with the series, but I’m thinking I might. This book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger necessarily, but it’s definitely not resolved.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Mild
Violence: Heavy
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Moderate

FAVORITE QUOTES:

“If there was one thing you could say about the rats–they were survivors. That’s what Myra liked most about them. They had that in common.”

“No mercy in the face of weakness”

“‘Look, the point is to know my soldiers,’ Aero said. ‘And the best way to know them is to fight them. A soldier reveals his or her truest self when facing death.'”

“It swam through the portal door like a creature begat by the deep and plunged into the darkness of the sea.”

“‘The world is full of mysteries,’ he said softly. After what they’d just been through, nobody could argue that.”

“‘I’m afraid that I’m not cut out for this journey. I’m losing my faith.’
He smiled grimly.
‘Me too.’
‘Then what can we do?’ she asked, her eyes searching his face.
He thought for a moment, before arriving at his answer: ‘The only thing that humans have been able to do for more than a thousand years–endure and hope.'”

 

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Click on the picture above to be taken to the giveaway!

Prize: Win a The 13th Continuum Prize Pack: a signed copy of Jennifer Brody’s book, a bookmark and a custom tote bag (US/CAN Only)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Brody’s debut novel The 13th Continuum sold to Turner Publishing in a 3-book deal and is being packaged into a feature film. The book is the first in a trilogy and will come out in Spring 2016. She is a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. She lives and writes in LA.

After studying film and graduating from Harvard University, she began her career in feature film development. Highlights include working for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and New Line Cinema, most notably on The Lord of the Rings films and The Golden Compass. In 2008, she produced the feature film Make It Happen for The Weinstein Company. Her recipes and articles have appeared in xoJane, Fox News, Parade Magazine, Whole Life Times, and Meatless Monday, and many other publications.

She is an alumni of the Sirenland Writers Conference, where she studied with Meg Wolitzer, and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, where she studied with Victor LaValle. She recently completed a 3-week residency at The Lemon Tree House and has been accepted for a residency in Spring 2016 at the Helen R. Whiteley Center, run by the University of Washington.

She founded and runs BookPod, a social media platform for authors with 400 members. She’s also a mentor for the Young Storytellers Foundation. In Spring 2015, her mentee’s script was picked out of over 900 scripts for the Glee Big Show, where it was performed by the cast of the hit Fox TV show, and in Fall of 2015, her mentee’s script was chosen for the Biggest Show, where it was performed by Jack Black and Leslie Mann.

Website|Goodreads|Twitter|Facebook

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Note: I received this book free from the author/blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday: Best books of 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new topic and this week’s topic is: Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

I’m going to narrow the field to the top ten books that I read that were published in 2015. Links are to my reviews

1) Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

“These were the names she whispered in the dark.
These were the pieces she brought back into place.
These were the wolves she rode to war.”

2) Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

“But it’s terrifying to realise how much of your world is wrapped up in loving another person”

3) Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

“Life is a gift. Don’t forget to live it.”

4) Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig

“Believe me, I have looked this up, and the roots of fate and faith are not the same. Nonetheless, I picked up my wicker suitcase to follow Herman the German into the Old Faithful Inn.”

5) Whippoorwill by Joseph Monninger

“What we find in a dog is what we bring to a dog.”

6) Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

“I didn’t go there looking for you. I went looking for me.” My voice is soft, low, and shaky. “But now, here you are, and somehow, in finding you, I think I’ve found myself.”

7) Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

“In any moment, there were so many chances for paths to cross and people to clash, come together, or do any number of things in between. It was amazing we could live at all, knowing all that could occur purely by chance.”

8) A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd

“To make the right decision you must understand both paths before you,” he said quietly. “You must know your demons before you know whether to follow them.”

9) A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

“I do fear him,” I said, which was close to the truth. “I fear him as I fear the desert sun and poisonous snakes. They are all part of the life I live. But the sun gives light, and snakes will feed a caravan if they are caught and cooked.”

10) The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E Pearson

“Three more days. That’s what Sven always told me. When you think you’re at the end of your rope, give it three more days. And then another three. Sometimes you’ll find the rope is longer than you thought.”

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Each week there is a new topic and this week’s topic is: Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So.

“‘Doesn’t look like much, does he?’ murmurs Frederick. ‘Hardly a couple of ounces of feathers and bones. But that bird can fly to Africa and back. Powered by bugs and worms and desire.’” – All the Light We Cannot See

“In any moment, there were so many chances for paths to cross and people to clash, come together, or do any number of things in between. It was amazing we could live at all, knowing all that could occur purely by chance.” – Saint Anything

“We are thickly layered, page lying upon page, behind simple covers. And love – it is not the book itself, but the binding.” – Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

“No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better.” – NEED

“He sweeps his paddle out in a wide arc, and the soft-blue glow appears again, somehow more special now because of why it happens. Because when these tiny little things are afraid, they shine.” – Things We Know by Heart

“Maybe the world isn’t full of signs so much as it’s full of people trying to use whatever evidence they can find to convince themselves of what they hope to be true.” – Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

“’You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you’re dead, it’s gone. Over. You’ve made what you’ve made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.’” – The Graveyard Book

“The thing is that people only get hurt—really hurt—when they’re trying to play it safe. That’s when people get injured, when they pull back at the last second because they’re scared. They hurt themselves and other people.” – Second Chance Summer

“’It’s not about winning or losing, really,’” he’s saying. “’It’s just the showing up every day. It’s stepping up to the plate and whiffing, and then doing it over and over again, whether you get a hit or not. It’s getting up every morning and failing and being disappointed and getting beat up and being let down, and then doing it all over again the next day.’” – The Comeback Season

“We were all survivors—every last one of us who limped our way out to the sidewalks that afternoon and spit in Death’s cold face.” – In the Shadow of Blackbirds

BLOG TOUR: It’s a Wonderful Death by Sarah J Schmitt (Giveaway)

It’s a Wonderful Death
by Sarah J. Schmitt
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Release Date: October 6th, 2015

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SYNOPSIS:
Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll. But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an overzealous archangel and Death Himself. The tribunal presents her with two options: she can remain in the lobby, where souls wait to be processed, until her original lifeline expires, or she can replay three moments in her life in an effort to make choices that will result in a future deemed worthy of being saved. It sounds like a no-brainer. She’ll take a walk down memory lane. How hard can changing her future be?

But with each changing moment, RJ’s life begins to unravel, until this self-proclaimed queen bee is a social pariah. She begins to wonder if walking among the living is worth it if she has to spend the next sixty years as an outcast. Too quickly, RJ finds herself back in limbo, her time on Earth once again up for debate.

RJ is a snarky, unapologetic, almost unredeemable, very real girl. Her story is funny and moving, and teens will easily connect with her plight. Prepare to meet the Grim Reaper, who’s cuter than you’d expect; Hawaiian shirt–wearing Death Himself; Saint Peter (who likes to play Cornhole); and Al, the handler for the three-headed hound that guards the gates of Hell. This cast of characters accompanies RJ through her time in the afterlife and will do their best to gently shove her in the right direction.

REVIEW:
This book was a little different than I expected. I was excited to read a story of redemption and justice. The book did have that, but it had more as well. I didn’t expect to read about relationships and bullying and dealing with death. The author of this book uses superficial characters and sarcastic dialogue to talk about some deep topics like cancer and suicide.

I never really liked the main character, RJ. At the beginning, we’re not supposed to like her. She’s entitled, bossy, and very self-absorbed. She doesn’t give much thought to the people around her, but we can see that there’s some good in her deep, deep down. After her second chance, she’s a better person, but every once in a while she would say something that didn’t quite sit right with me. She was still a little too snarky for my tastes I guess. In some ways she had definitely changed, but in others she seemed like the same, old RJ. I thought the secondary characters really made the book. They were great, well-developed characters and I felt myself drawn to them in a way that I wasn’t quite drawn to RJ.

The plot was good, not great. I was entertained and wanted to finish the book, but I probably wouldn’t reread it. The ending was definitely unexpected, but I also wonder if it was wholly necessary? I think that’s something that each reader will have to decide for themselves. Overall, a pleasant read with a strong moral direction.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: None
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: None

Note: I received this book free from the author/blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

FAVORITE QUOTES:
“‘Everything you do has a consequence. Good, bad, indifferent, there is always a price to pay. The question is: who pays? Sometimes making the right choice means you might lose something that seems important at the time.'”

“‘I guess I just got so caught up with being popular. I think, somehow, I lost myself.'”

“‘If I can do that, everything should work out?’ I could really use some reassurance right now.
‘I can’t promise you that.’
Not exactly what I was looking for. ‘But we can hope, right?’
‘Hope is a pretty powerful form of prayer,’ Sal says, his hand on the doorknob.
Absently I say, ‘I don’t pray.’
He pauses before responding, ‘Maybe you should.'”

“‘…But then again, is that not why we exist in the first place? Because we have faith to believe there is something more, something greater than ourselves?'”

“I nod. ‘No, it’s not fair. And you’re right. It totally sucks.’
‘But we’ll get over it, right?’ he says bitterly.
I think carefully about how to answer him. Finally, with a sigh, I say, ‘No. I don’t think we’ll ever get over it. I never got over Grams and she was old. But somehow, in time, we’ll learn to get through it.'”

“I didn’t realize it before, but tears are streaming down my face. Not because I’m sad. I mean, I am, but that’s not why I’m crying. It’s because my life means something. Even in the future, my choices make a difference.”

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Click on the picture above to be taken to the giveaway!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah J. Schmitt is a K-8 school librarian and Youth Service Professional for Teens at a public library who, in addition to planning a variety of events, enjoys opening up the world of books to reluctant readers. She runs a teen writing program that combines Skype visits from well-known authors and screenwriters and critique group style feedback.

Prior to immersing herself in the world of the written word, Sarah earned her Masters of Science in Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs from Indiana University where she worked with first year college students as they acclimated to college life. Sarah lives outside of Indianapolis with her husband, two kidlets and a cat who might actually be a secret agent. She is an active member of SCBWI, ALA and the Indiana Library Federation and is a regular participant at the Midwest Writer’s Workshop. Her debut novel, IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH, comes out Fall 2015 from Sky Pony Press.

Website|Goodreads|Twitter|Facebook|Google+

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Note: I received this book free from the Blog Tour in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite Quotes from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I don’t have any reviews for you guys yet, but in the meantime…here are some of my favorite quotes from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr!

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“Werner chases the beam of his field light through the lobby. The big gun detonates a third time, and glass shatters somewhere close by, and torrents of soot rattle down the chimney, and the walls of the hotel toll like a struck bell. Werner worries that the sound will knock the teeth from his gums.
He drags open the cellar door and pauses a moment, vision swimming. ‘This is it?’ he asks. ‘They’re really coming?’
But who is there to answer?” -pg 8

“We are Malouins first, say the people of Saint-Malo. Bretons next. French if there’s anything left over.” – pg11

“Congenital cataracts. Bilateral. Irreparable. ‘Can you see this?’ ask the doctors. ‘Can you see this?’ Marie-Laure will not see anything for the rest of her life. Spaces she once knew as familiar–the four-room flat she shares with her father, the little tree-lined square at the end of their street–have become labyrinths bristling with hazards. Drawers are never where they should be. The toilet is an abyss. A glass of water is too near, too far; her fingers too big, always too big.
What is blindness? Where there should be a wall, her hands find nothing. Where there should be nothing, a table leg gouges her shin. Cars growl in the streets; leaves whisper in the sky; blood rustles through her inner ears. In the stairwell, in the kitchen, even beside her bed, grown-up voices speak of despair.
‘Poor child.’
‘Poor Monsieur LeBlanc.’
‘Hasn’t had an easy road, you know. His father dead in the war, his wife dead in childbirth. And now this?’
‘Like they’re cursed.’
‘Look at her. Look at him.’
‘Ought to send her away.’
Those months are months of bruises and wretchedness: rooms pitching like sailboats, half-open doors striking Marie-Laure’s face. Her only sanctuary is in bed, the hem of her quilt at her chin, while her father smokes another cigarette in the chair beside her, whittling away at one of his tiny models, his little hammer going tap tap tap, his little square of sandpaper making a rhythmic, soothing rasp.” -pg 27

“Werner likes everything. Violins, horns, drums, speeches–a mouth against a microphone in some faraway yet simultaneous evening–the sorcery of it hold hims rapt.” -pg 38

“Botany smells like glue and blotter paper and pressed flowers. Paleontology smells like rock dust, bone dust. Biology smells like formalin and old fruit; it is loaded with heavy cool jars in which float things she has only had described for her: the pale coiled ropes of rattlesnakes, the severed hands of gorillas. Entomology smells like mothballs and oil: a preservative that, Dr. Geffard explains, is called naphthalene. Offices smell of carbon paper, or cigar smoke, or brandy, or perfume. Or all four.
She follows cables and pipes, railings and ropes, hedges and sidewalks. She startles people. She never knows if the lights are on.” -pg 44

“Radio: it ties a million ears to a single mouth.” -pg 63

“There are cadets who do everything right–perfect posture, expert marksmanship, boots polished so perfectly that they reflect clouds. There are cadets who have skin like butter and irises like sapphires and ultra-fine networks of blue veins laced across the backs of their hands. For now, though, beneath the whip of the administration, they are all the same, all Jungmänner. They hustle through the gates together, gulp fried eggs in the refectory together, march across the quadrangle, perform roll call, salute the colors, shoot rifles, run, bathe, and suffer together. They are each a mound of clay, and the potter that is the portly, shiny-faced commandant is throwing four hundred identical pots.” -pg 139

“One week in Saint-Malo becomes two. Marie begins to feel that her life, like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, has been interrupted halfway through. There was volume1, when Marie-Laure and her father lived in Paris and went to work, and now there is volume 2, when Germans ride motorcycles through these strange, narrow streets and her uncle vanishes inside his own house.” -pg 145

“This, she realizes, is the basis of his fear, all fear. That a light you are powerless to stop will turn on you and usher a bullet to its mark.” -pg 160

“There is pride, too, though–pride that he has done it alone. That his daughter is so curious, so resilient. There is the humility of being a father to someone so powerful, as if he were only a narrow conduit for another, greater thing. That’s how it feels right now, he thinks, kneeling beside her, rinsing her hair: as though his love for his daughter will outstrip the limits of his body. The walls could fall away, even the whole city, and the brightness of that feeling would not wane.” -pg 189

“The sky drops silver threads of sleet. Gray houses run in converging lines to the horizon, bunched as if to fend off cold.” -pg 218

“‘Doesn’t look like much, does he?’ murmurs Frederick. ‘Hardly a couple of ounces of feathers and bones. But that bird can fly to Africa and back. Powered by bugs and worms and desire.’” -pg 224

“…to Marie-Laure this is a double cruelty: that everything else keeps living, that the spinning earth does not pause for even an instant in its trip around the sun.” -pg 320

“Werner remembers crouching next to his cot with Jutta after the Frenchman would sign off, the windows rattling from some passing coal train, the echo of the broadcast seeming to glimmer in the air for a moment, as though he could reach out and let it float down into his hands.” -pg 337

“It strikes Werner just then as wondrously futile to build splendid buildings, to make music, to sing songs, to print huge books full of colorful birds in the face of the seismic, engulfing indifference of the world–what pretensions humans have!” -pg 364

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.” -pg 376

“To shut your eyes is to guess nothing of blindness. Beneath your world of skies and faces and buildings exists a rawer and older world, a place where surface planes disintegrate and sounds ribbon in shoals through the air.” -pg 390

“None more complicated than the human brain, Etienne would say, what may be the most complex object in existence; one wet kilogram within which spin universes.” -pg 453

“To men like that, time was a surfeit, a barrel they watched slowly drain. When really, he thinks, it’s a glowing puddle you carry in your hands; you should spend all your energy protecting it. Fighting for it. Working so hard not to spill one single drop.” -pg 476

Day Three: 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge

Last day! One more time…I was tagged by Emily @The Diary of a Bibliophile. Go look at her blog! It’s awesome.

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

This quote comes from A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray.

“Now I know grief is a whetstone. It sharpens all yourlove, all your happiest memories, into blades that tear you apart from within….They say ‘time heals’…what people really mean is that eventually you’ll get used to the pain. You’ll forget who you were without it; you’ll forget what you looked like without your scars.”

I especially love that last part, “you’ll forget what you looked like without your scars.”

Nominations:

A Bit Behind on Books
Aimee @ My Life in Books
Audrey @Forwards and Bookwords

And as a final reminder, feel free to ignore the nomination if you’ve already done it or are just plain not interested!

Day Two: 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge

Day number two! First off, just as a reminder, I was tagged by Emily @The Diary of a Bibliophile.

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

Today’s quote is brought to you by my favorite author, Sarah Dessen. This is from her latest release Saint Anything.

“That was just it. You never knew what lay ahead; the future was one thing that could never be broken, because it had not yet had the chance to be anything. One minute you’re walking through a dark woods, alone, and then the landscape shifts, and you see it. Something wondrous and unexpected, almost magical, that you never would have found had you not kept going. Like a new friend who feels like an old one, or a memory you’ll never forget. Maybe even a carousel.” – pg 413

This book is definitely making my top 5 read this year. I loved it so much. For more of my favorite Saint Anything quotes, click here.

Nominations:

Josie @Josie’s Book Corner
Zakiya @To Borrow or Buy
Nola @Bookfuls Reviews

Like I said yesterday, feel free to ignore the nomination if you’ve already done it or are just plain not interested!

Day One: 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge

Okay, I’ve been seeing a lot of these floating around the blogosphere but wasn’t sure what they were until I was tagged by Emily @The Diary of a Bibliophile. Her first quote was GREAT so go check it out!

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

Okay, so here’s my first quote from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

“There is pride, too, though–pride that he has done it alone. That his daughter is so curious, so resilient. There is the humility of being a father to someone so powerful, as if he were only a narrow conduit for another, greater thing. That’s how it feels right now, he thinks, kneeling beside her, rinsing her hair: as though his love for his daughter will outstrip the limits of his body. The walls could fall away, even the whole city, and the brightness of that feeling would not wane.” – pg 189

I love this quote. It’s a father thinking about his blind daughter as he helps her bathe. There is such a connection between parent and child that is unfathomable to me at this stage of my life since I don’t have any kids. I do have a 6-month-old nephew though and I do feel that pride every time he accomplishes something new (ex. sitting up by himself). I can only imagine how proud I’ll be of my own kids.

Nominations:

Melanie @Reviews of a Self Proclaimed Bibliophile
Felicia @Felicia Sue Lynn Reviews
Erika & Miedjel @Partners in Books

Feel free to ignore the nomination if you’ve already done it or are just plain not interested!

Favorite Quotes from Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

I just finished this book tonight…so many feels. I absolutely loved it! I’ll be giving a more detailed review at a later date, but it’s rivaling “The Truth About Forever” as favorite Dessen novel. I loved it that much. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book (no spoilers, I promise!):

“There’s a weird thing that happens when something goes from a one-time thing to a habit. Like the problem is no longer just a temporary houseguest but has actually moved in.” pg 10

“Happy, normal lives going on in happy, normal ways, in a world that was anything but. Once you realized this, experienced something that made it crystal clear, you couldn’t forget it. Like a face. Or a name. However you first learn that truth, once it’s with you, it never really goes away.” pg 75

“With shame, like horseshoes, proximity counts.” pg 76

“When I rolled over to check on Layla, she wasn’t there. Confused, I sat up on my elbow and rubbed my eyes, then spotted her. She’d moved her bed so it rested against the closed–but unlocked–door, and was curled up there. Keeping watch, keeping safe. I slept better than I had in months.” pg 117 (picture me bawling my eyes out about how good a friend Layla is)

“‘There’s no shame in trying to make stuff work, is how I see it. It’s better than just accepting the broken.'” pg 244

“To me, the Chathams were like that merry-go-round in the middle of nowhere in the woods. I hadn’t been aware they’d existed; it was pure luck to have stumbled upon them. Now that I had, I couldn’t forget and go back to the way I’d been before. Just knowing they were out there changed everything.” pg 333

“It wasn’t that I’d broken down, but that I hadn’t been alone when I did so. You only really fall apart in front of the people you know can piece you back together.” pg 387

“In any moment, there were so many chances for paths to cross and people to clash, come together, or do any number of things in between. It was amazing we could live at all, knowing all that could occur purely by chance.” pg 400

“. . . I thought again of that long-ago afternoon in the courthouse. When faced with the scariest of things, all you want is to turn away, hide in your own invisible place. But you can’t. That’s why it’s not only important for us to be seen, but to have someone to look for us, as well.” pg 401

“That was just it. You never knew what lay ahead; the future was one thing that could never be broken, because it had not yet had the chance to be anything. One minute you’re walking through a dark woods, alone, and then the landscape shifts, and you see it. Something wondrous and unexpected, almost magical, that you never would have found had you not kept going. Like a new friend who feels like an old one, or a memory you’ll never forget. Maybe even a carousel.” pg 413 (she seriously could have ended the book on this one)

“Anyway, it was unrealistic to expect to be constantly in the happiest place. In real life, you’re lucky just to be always somewhere nearby.” pg 416

Top Ten Tuesday: Inspirational Quotes

When I started this blog, I intended to just use if for book reviews, but as I have become immersed in the bookish community, I’ve really come to enjoy these weekly memes. So here’s my first Top 10 Tuesday, a popular weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. The topic this week is:

Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books (anything that inspires you, challenges you, makes you think, encourages you, etc.)

So without further ado…

…books are like flypaper–memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things–if love can ever be called that.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Now I know grief is a whetstone. It sharpens all your love, all your happiest memories, into blades that tear you apart from within….They say ‘time heals’…what people really mean is that eventually you’ll get used to the pain. You’ll forget who you were without it; you’ll forget what you looked like without your scars.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

It isn’t about the sharpness of the blade, but the hand that holds it.’ Science doesn’t do good or ill by itself- it’s the intention behind it.

Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd

It’s just that…I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It’s the universe’s way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It’s how life is.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

You can’t spend so much time in a place and not carry a bit of it inside you.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Figure out what is real for you. No use leaning on someone else’s story all your life.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?
Doesn’t that make life a story?

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

‘Happily ever after, or even just together ever after, is not cheesy,’ Wren said. ‘It’s the noblest, like, the most courageous thing two people can shoot for.’

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell