Random Acts of Kindess: February Wrap Up

This was my very first month participating in R.A.K. and oh my goodness I had so much fun! I definitely will be participating again in March! 

I sent out one R.A.K. this month to Elodie (Once Upon a Quote) which was a signed The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade and some fun swag! 

I was lucky enough to receive a R.A.K. this month! *squeal* Yay!! I got Cinder by Marissa Meyer from Elodie! (Once Upon a Quote) I seriously cannot wait to read it, I've been dying to get my hands on this beauty for the longest time! It's so awesome because it has the price in pounds, not dollars and I just thought you could only see bone through the leg on the cover, but it's robot bone! How awesome! Thank you so, so much Elodie!!! You rock! 

Love Triangles: The Double Standard

Last week I was able to see the new movie This Means War which stars Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tim Hardy. It not only left me laughing until my sides began to hurt, but it also got me thinking about books. (Figures that a book nerd would connect a romantic comedy movie to books, but I just can't help myself!) Anyways, I started thinking about love triangles in YA literature and how they are almost always one girl and two guys, never one guy and two girls.

I started to brainstorm reasons why there seems to be this trend of one girl love triangles and it kind of hit me full force: How accepting would we be of a guy who dragged along two girls unable to make up his mind about which one he wanted to be with? I don't know about you, but I would definitely not find him swoon-worthy or probably a character that I'd find it fairly easy to like.

What would Personal Demons be like if it weren't for Frannie, Luc and Gabe a.k.a the perfect trio? The book definitely wouldn't have been the same if it was Luc with his girls Frannie and Gabriella. I also don't think a lot of Luc's many charms would have been there, like his fierce love for only Frannie.


So I guess my question is, What makes it okay for girls to be in two-guy love triangles without being judged? I mean as unbelievable as it may seem guys do have feelings too and isn't the ring leader of a love triangle leading others on and taking advantage of the other two's feelings? Is there a double standard for letting it be alright if a girl can't make up her mind for who she loves, but a guy is just expected to immediately know?

-Would you read a book with a one-guy love triangle?

-Are there any YA books out there that have this type of love triangle? 

-Why do you think it is that there isn't more two-female one-male love triangles? 

In My Mailbox (42)

 Hosted by The Story Siren. 

-The Fine Are of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jenson
     This is on my list of books that I'd like to read for the YA Contempts Challenge so I can't wait to read it and how cute is that cover!

-It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2) by Jenny Han
    I got this one for only three dollars at Half Price Books with a 40% off coupon! Yay! I already have the first book in the trilogy so that made it even more perfect!

Have you checked out my 2nd Blogoversary Bash?! 

You could win signed copies of Bloodrose, Across the Universe, Legend, Born Wicked and a poster signed by all of the Breathless Reads Tour 2012 authors with a lanyard! Click here to enter! 

Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Borrowed from my library.
Published September 27, 2011
Amazon - Goodreads 

This is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming. . . .
This monster, though, is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth.
Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final story idea of Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.

I first heard of A Monster Calls over at Katie's book blog, Book Love. After reading her review I knew I immediately needed to read this book! I'm so grateful that Katie wrote such a wonderful review because without it I doubt I would have picked this one up, which would have been a complete shame because it's such an incredible story. This was my first book by Patrick Ness, but it's definitely not going to be my last!

One of the many awesome things about this book is that it has absolutely beautiful pictures that illustrate the craziness that the main character, Coner's, been going through. I love how the drawings were dark and spooky, but were also breathtakingly gorgeous all at the same time. The art definitely added a unique twist to an already exceptional story.

Early on in the story we find out that Coner's mother is very ill and that it's obviously affecting his entire life. He is pretty independent for his age and tries to be strong for his mother in the only ways he knows how. The monster always comes at 12:07, but Coner has something way more terrifying to be scared about, this nightmare that he has almost every night. Since the book didn't say straight away what the nightmare was, it definitely kept me interesting in finding out what could be worse than this Yew Tree monster visiting you? The monster told Coner that he was going to tell him three true stories and in turn Coner would have to tell him his own truth in a story.

I loved that the three stories the Monster told Coner were definitely not the most conventional 'bedtime stories' and how the ending of each story wasn't what I (or Coner) was expecting. Each story the Monster told definitely left an impact on me. The morals were incredible and just because they may not be things one always hears, doesn't mean that they weren't true. I think more stories need to include the truth, no matter how contradictory or unpleasant it might sometimes be.

I was warned before I picked up A Monster Calls that it was a tear jerker, but I didn't expect that I'd tear up that much! There were sometimes in the book why I didn't even realize or really know why I was crying. Now, I think I was just so connected to Coner's emotions that the littlest thing that he'd feel, I'd feel it right along with him. I totally lost it at one of the scenes towards the end, it's really when the moral of Ness's story hit me full force.

Amazing Quote:
"Stories are important, the monster said. They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth."

Characters: 5/5
Creativity: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Impact: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Although A Monster Calls may be a short read, it definitely didn't leave me short on emotions. This story feels like it will be passed on for generations and something you will tell your children about. Jim Kay's beautiful drawings mixed with Patrick Ness's breathtaking writing is the perfect mix to create a story that will be passed on for ages.

Call Me Crazy's Blogoversary Bash: Giveaway

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I started blogging! I've had so much fun and have met so many awesome people that it feels like only a of couple weeks. I had a big giveaway about a year and a half ago when I reached 100 followers and had so much fun giving away great books that I decided to have a Blogoversary Bash!

I recently went to the Breathless Reads Tour 2012 where I was able to meet Andrea Cremer, Beth Revis, Jessica Spotswood, and Marie Lu! I totally had a blast! There's only a small handful of stops on this tour so I figured I'd get some books signed by all the authors along with a signed poster and lanyard for all of my lovely followers as part of my Blogoversary Giveaway!

This giveaway is International! I've saved up some money so I could buy these books and send two of them anywhere in the world and three books to anyone in the U.S. or Canada.

Now onto the goods!

Books:

-Legend by Marie Lu (SIGNED)

-Across the Universe by Beth Revis (SIGNED)

-Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood (SIGNED) 

-Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer (SIGNED) 

Swag:

-Breathless Reads Tour 2012 Poster (SIGNED by all 4 of the authors)

Jessica Spotswood's signature is there, I promise, it's right under her book cover in pink! It's just so cute and a little small that my camera didn't do a good job of getting it clearly. 

-Breathless Reads Tour 2012 Lanyard 

There will be 5 winners.
This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!
There will be 2 International winners and 3 U.S. and Canada winners.
No P.O. boxes please.

Click here to view my Contest Policy.

The first winner will be contacted on March 11th and will have first choice on the list of goodies. The second winner will have second choice and so on...Depending on how long it takes for each winner to respond (the winners will have 48 hours to respond depending on when they receive my email.) is when you'll get your email.

Winners will be announced in a blog post on March 13th, 2012 

To enter the giveaway fill out the form below!
Contest ends Saturday, March 12th 2012 at midnight.

In My Mailbox (41)

Hosted by The Story Siren. 

I've decided that I'm going to do a video for In My Mailbox every other week. I filmed a bookshelf tour this week and I'll be having a video for my giveaway as part of my Blogoversary Bash so I didn't want to go all video crazy on you guys! 

Bought:
-Going Bovine by Libba Bray
     I still need to read a book by Libba Bray and I have heard absolutely incredible things about Going Bovine so I'm happy that I finially decided to buy it! I keep seeing quotes from it on goodreads and tumblr that totally take my breath away so I can't wait to read this one! (I love the cover too: a cow and a gnome haha!)

Recieved:
-Breathless Reads Tour 2012 Poster signed by all of the authors!
-Breathless Reads Tour 2012 Lanyard
-Cinder by Marissa Meyer and Ashes by Ilsa J. Blick swag
     My mom went with me and each ticket came with a poster and lanyard so I have an extra of each... hmm possibly in my Blogoversay Bash?! My indie bookstore puts their extra swag out for their customers to grab and they had a Cinder and Ashes bookmark so I just had to get some for a giveaway!

Don't forget to check out my BIG CRAZY ANNOUNCEMENT that talks about my Blogoversary Bash Giveaways that start Monday!!

A Big CRAZY Announcement

Some of you may have noticed that the designs here at Call Me Crazy have been changing quite a bit lately. This is mainly because I hadn't really been pleased with any of my most recent layouts. So this week I decided to set aside some time to make a new blog design that I really liked and was kind of crazy. What could be crazy than a flying purple giraffe!?

It took me a while to find a background that I liked and thought would go with the colorful header, so I'm hoping that this one is looking good!

I was debating on changing my blog URL but then all my buttons and links around the web wouldn't work, so I decided to leave it. I mean I am kind of bummed it doesn't match my blog title. Just Call Me Bookworm was the original title of this blog, but then I switched it to Tales of a Teenage Bookaholic, to Heartland Reviews and then finally to Call Me Crazy which it's been for over a year and a half. I'm horrible at making decisions, can you tell?


Anyways, let's get on to the big announcement!

My 2nd blogoversary is coming up in March, so I will be having a giveaway! Woo!! There will be signed books and signed swag too! The giveaway will launch this Monday February 20th and end at midnight on Saturday March 10th! So be sure to check back Monday to see what awesome goodies you could win!

I also made some giveaway buttons so it would be awesome if you wanted to grab one from my sidebar!  

Thank you guys so much for the absolute greatest two years of blogging I could ever ask for! 

Cover Craziness: Changes in Book Covers & Series Designs

Lately, there's been a lot of buzz surrounding new designs for covers of our beloved books. Usually I don't mind when covers change, like The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld just recently changed their covers, which I thought was a really great thing mainly because I adore the new ones and the first set of series had been already released for a while. Other times a book changes its look way too many times or in the middle of a series, making it hard to collect just one set of covers.

It might just be me and my book O.C.D. but I like my books in a series to match, it looks really nice on my shelf! So here is the breakdown of my thoughts of what I think of the books' new looks.


I Like the New:

The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld

I still remember seeing the first book, Uglies, in my elementary school library and it honestly creeped me out. I have this thing about people's eyeballs staring at me and the first covers have a lot of that. The new covers have one eyeball, but it's robotic so that's more cool than freaky. 

I absolutely adore the new covers of The Uglies Series! Just looking at them you can tell the books are dystopians about altering the human appearance. I love the clean and original look too it and on the binding there is a shrunken picture from the cover on the side, which looks so amazing on my shelf! I'm pretty certain that these are my absolute favorite covers for an entire series! 

The Mockingbirds Series by Daisy Whitney

The black cover with the bird on it was the first cover of The Mockingbirds. After The Rivals, book two, came out The Mockingbirds paperback now resembles book two's cover's feel. I liked the first cover, but I really love the second set of covers so much more. I love the font of the title and how the photograph is almost like from an old photo booth picture strip that you'd find in a mall, too cool!

I Like the Old Better:

Curse Workers Series by Holly Black

I loved the bold feel of the first set of covers and how they looked like no other book on the young adult shelves. I have the first two books in hard cover and now when I get Black Heart it won't match my other copies, which is a major bummer for my little o.c.d self.

I like how it doesn't look like faces when you like at them from afar, but I almost wish there weren't the faces in them. Although I really adore how it's just one color against a black backdrop, it's pretty stunning. 

The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot

I'm such a huge fan of The Mediator series by Meg Cabot, but I'm not totally in love with the covers. I just really don't like cartoons on covers, photographs are much more my thing I guess. This is the fifth book in this series and I couldn't find any other covers like the second picture so I don't know if this was a one time thing or what exactly, but I do know that I loved it! It fits a scene perfectly in the book! The thing about the cartoon covers that I do like is they all match and have the same design while also having the series name easy to read. 

Just WAY too Many! 

The Princess Diaries Series by Meg Cabot

I first started this series when I was ten and the books I had were the first cover. Then all of a sudden the covers started changing, I believe it was around Party Princess, I like the second covers very light and feminine concept, but wait because they don't last for long. Now there's a diary version of it, which is probably my least favorite.

My problem with this is that every time I start to buy books in a series to collect all the same covers, they change again! This series is coming to an end so I hope I'll be able to find all of the books with the same cover. (These are all American covers by the way, crazy right!?)

What do you guys think of all the changes in covers lately? 

Are you like me and want all of your books in a series to match? 

What other covers have changed that you like or don't like?

In My Mailbox Vlog (40)

Hosted by The Story Siren

Bought:
-A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2) by Beth Revis
-Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles: Book 1) by Jessica Spotswood
-Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu
-Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook

-Crank (Crank #1) by Ellen Hopkins
-Glass (Crank #2) by Ellen Hopkins
-Burned (Burned #1) by Ellen Hopkins
-The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti
-Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle
-Virals (Virals #1) by Kathy Reichs
-A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Bought from Borders
Published January 11, 2011
Amazon - Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

It took me forever to finally pick up Across the Universe and I'm totally kicking myself for waiting so long! I was only a couple chapters in before I became hooked to the story and fell in love with the characters. It's just such a unique story and the plot was action packed with just the right amount of romance thrown in, I loved it!

It was really awesome how Revis had me questioning everything that I've been told, but in a good way! The book left me having more confidence in my 'gut feeling' and really showed how much a person can be impacted by their education or upbringing. Elder used to blindly follow everything that Eldest, the current leader of the ship, said and never questioned his teachings until one day he has reason to. It was so fun watching Elder figure out things on his own and watch him grow into an incredibly strong leader.

I had a history teacher in high school that would constantly say, "History is the most important thing you'll ever learn. It's how we keep the past from repeating." Until I read Across the Universe I never fully understood how right she was. Some of the history that was taught to Elder on Godspeed was incorrect or presented in a way that made it glorified. (Hitler was a good man in their history's eyes, which is messed up to say the least!) It was interesting to have real historical references in the book and how the horrible things that happened on Earth were happening again because they didn't have the correct history for reference.

The book was in two P.O.V.'s which I loved! I was able to see into Amy and Elder's heads throughout the story and it's really interesting to see the events from a resident of Sol-Earth's (aka Earth's) perspective and from the next leader of Godspeed, who spent his whole life trapped inside of a ship.

I adored Amy's love for her parents and how she was willing to leave her entire life on Earth behind just to make her parents happy. She was one of the most courageous main characters that I have read about in a long time. I definitely wouldn't have handled being woken up early after being frozen for almost three hundred years on a ship rocketing through space without knowing anyone! Elder was such an incredible character too! I loved how he learned a lot about his home and himself throughout the story.

Just everything about this book is amazing: the setting on a space ship, how it takes place in the future and all of the characters! I loved Elder's best friend Harley, he's an artistic guy who lives in the hospital with a few others that are deemed 'crazy' because they are free thinkers and creative. It's just so cool to see how Godspeed's norm is so different from our society's norm!

The ending, oh my goodness! I saw one little part of the ending coming, but I totally didn't see everything else! I'm actually pretty glad I saw one aspect of it pretty early on because I didn't feel totally stupid that I didn't see anything coming, haha! The climax in the book was filled with action and so many confessions!

Awesome Quote:
"In amongst all this sorrow...there is also joy. You can't have one without the other."

Characters: 5/5
Creativity: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Impact: 5+/5
Overall: 5/5

Across the Universe is an incredible book that I can't say enough positive things about. It is an amazingly unique story about two courageous teens trying to discover the truth behind all of the chaos taking place in their world. This book is frexing incredible! It was not only entertaining, but it also left me with a lot of questions about my surroundings and showed me how dangerous being impassive really is. Seriously jump in your car, head to the bookstore and go get it, you won't regret it!

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Borrowed from my library.
Published January 17, 2012
Amazon - Goodreads

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.
That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

I wasn't too sure about how I was going to like this book, it just seemed a lot different from any other young adult books I've been enjoying lately. I thought the time travel concept was going to be pretty confusing and that the entire story was just going to be attempting to get the reader to understand it. I was so, so wrong though, Julie Cross did an amazing job at taking you through all of the information that surrounds time travel in a very simple way, so it's super easy to understand!

Jackson is a nineteen year old who has the ability to time travel, which right there alone is flipping amazing! I loved how the story was told from his point of view, it felt so real and he's definitely one of my all time favorite male protagonists! The only other person that knows about his unique talent is his girlfriend's brother, Adam, who is a total science nerd and has theories of his own about Jackson's abilities. I really loved that throughout the book Jackson was able to learn so much more about what he can truly do and how he grew more into an adult after each journey back in time.

I loved all of the action in this book and how you can trust no one! The entire time I was thinking "but Jackson, can you really trust your Dad and what about the Enemies of Time!?" It was interesting to see the story unfold by gathering up information from all the different time's in Jackson's past and putting the pieces together at the end to get a pretty kick ass puzzle. I mean there was a lot left unanswered, but just the right about that left me dying to get my hands on the sequel.

It was really awesome how I was able to go back in time with Jackson, it wasn't like a normal flashback because even though it was taking place in the past, it was happening in the now! (Okay that's a little confusing but in the book, I promise, it's not!) I also loved all of the characters in the book and the relationships they had with one another. Holly and Jackson were just so cute together no matter what year it was and I loved how they grew as a couple throughout the story.

I absolutely loved the ending! The events leading up to it helped me fully understand time traveling in this story and I really admired the choices that Jackson made. I was seriously was blown away! Just so much happens throughout this book that every bit of it is amazing!

Also, on a side note, I'm in absolute LOVE with the cover! At first I just thought it was nice, but after reading the book and how it goes with the story was so awesome! It's gorgeous!

Amazing Quote:
"Nothing went exactly right. And yet it was perfect."

Characters: 5/5
Creativity: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Impact: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Tempest is a one of a kind book in the young adult genre about a boy with the unique ability to time travel who is trying to figure out the type of person he wants to become. This book is filled with all the right amounts of action, romance and friendship to make any reader completely fall in love with Jackson's story. As soon as I read the first page I was sucked into Jackson's intensely incredible story, Tempest demands to be read! I loved it!

P.S. Do we like the block quote or no? Should I just stick with the italics for the summary of the book? 

Getting Ready for The Breathless Reads Tour 2012

The Breathless Reads Tour stops at my indie bookstore next week and I've only read one book from the four featured authors that will be there, I know I'm horrible! The one book that I have read is Nightshade, which I absolutely loved so I have no idea why I haven't read the other two books in the series yet.

I have heard incredible things about all of the books that are being featured on this tour so my goal is to at least have three more read before next Wednesday:

Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu
Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis
Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1)  by Jessica Spotswood

This way I'll have read at least one book by each author that is appearing! (Then I can fangirl and tell them how much I love their books!)

I was lucky enough to meet Andrea Cremer, the author of the Nightshade Trilogy, last year and she is seriously one of the sweetest people I've ever met! I can't wait to see Andrea and the rest of the authors next Tuesday!

Are you going to a stop on The Breathless Reads Tour? 

In My Mailbox Vlog (39)

Hosted by The Story Siren

Bought:
-Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne
-Angel Burn (Angel #1) by L.A. Weatherly
-Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

-A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1) by Libba Bray
-Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer
-Vampire Crush by A.M. Robinson
-Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty

Library: 
-Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu
-Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
-Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
-Fracture by Megan Miranda
-The Half Life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Haplin
-A Monster Calls written by Patrick Ness illustrated by Siobhan Dowd & Jim Kay
-Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross (Currently Reading!)

Top 5 Books I Can't Wait to be Released in February

-Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne
   February 2, 2012
      The main character, Faye, thinks she's going crazy. She just arrived at Holbrook Academy were strange things start to happen, her friends wake up in the middle of the night with red covering their hands. There's also a cute boy, but he may or may not want to kill Faye. I really can't wait to read this one, I have a feeling I'm going to L-O-V-E it!

-Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles) by Jessica Spotswood
   February 7, 2012    
     Just everything about this book screams amazing! Sisters trying to hide the fact that they are witches because of the Brotherhood finds out they'd be in serious danger and possibly killed. It almost sounds like it'll take place in the past so I'll be excited to know the setting! I'm also meeting the author this month as part of the Breathless Reads Tour, so fun!

-Pure (Pure #1) by Julianna Baggott
   February 8, 2012
     It takes place after the Apocalypse and there just sounds like so much action and adventure is going to take place in this book! Once you reach a certain age you're required to turn yourself over to the militia and the Pures (the people who made it through the Apocalypse safely) are kept inside the Dome for protection.

-Fever (The Chemical Garden Trilogy 2) by Lauren DeStefano
   February 21, 2012
     I absolutely loved Wither and I really can't wait to see what happens next after Gabriel and Rhine ran away. I'm also pretty curious to see Linden's reaction to Rhine leaving and  just how crazy Vaughn can get.


-Pandemonium (Delirium 2) by Lauren Oliver
   February 28, 2012
     Cliffhanger! Oh my goodness it killed me at the end of the last book! I seriously am dying to get my hands on this book. At that 'Lena falls in love again line' I just freak out every time! What about Alex!? And her Mom and just ahh everything! I need this sequel!!