2012 Wrap-Up

It's hard to believe that 2012 has come to an end!  What an amazing year this has been for me and for Silver Wings Reviews.  I started this blog in April, simply as a place for me to put my thoughts into words, and to have an outlet to connect with others that love reading as much as I do.  I  never really expected to fall in love with blogging the way I have.  I have made many new friends, and I've had so much fun this year.  Not to mention, I've read some amazing books!!  Here are a few of the highlights of my amazing year:

First of all, I'm amazed to say that in only a few short months SWR went from being a brand new baby blog to a blog with a following of over 500!  I find that astounding, and I want to thank each and every one of you!  Knowing that there are people out there that actually care what I think...that's quite humbling.

If there is one thing I've discovered this year, it's that Indie authors totally rock!  I've had the opportunity to connect with several Indies that I find utterly amazing!  If you haven't already, you should be sure to put these at the top of your reading list for 2013.  And yes, I realize some of these are now traditionally published, but when I read them they were still considered Indie. 

Colleen Hoover has managed to wiggle her way into my heart, and her books have touched me like no others.  I had the opportunity to meet Colleen at the Decatur Book Festival in August, and this was absolutely the highlight of my blogging year!  I got signed copies of Slammed (my review) and Point of Retreat (my review), and I even got a hug.  Colleen is not only an amazing writer, but a crazy sweet person.  Her newest release, Hopeless, is still with me a week after finishing it.  I haven't written the review for it yet because I simply cannot find the words.  It was THAT good.   

I also got to meet Abbi Glines at the Festival and got signed copies of Breathe, Because of Low and While it Last.  I hadn't actually read the books yet at the time, and I kick myself now.  I wish I'd known what an amazing author she was while I was standing there chit chatting with Colleen!  While I haven't gotten the reviews on the blog yet, I can tell you that this series is wonderful...along with the newest, Just For Now!!  And I won't even get started on her sexy Vincent Boys Series...holy moly.  Read them all!!  You won't be sorry! 

While we haven't met in person, Claudia Carozza and I have become great friends.  Her books, The Twenty (my review) and The Forgotten (my review), should definitely be added to the top of your to-be-read pile, especially if you're a fan of dystopian!  This girl can write!

Other great Indies that I've read this year:  Jessica Park, Jamie McGuire, Robert J. Crane, Nyrae Dawn, Tammara Webber, Tracey Garvis Graves, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Katja Millay, Jessica Sorensen...the list goes on and on!   

I read 109 books this year!  There is no way I could ever choose a Top 10, but I have to give you a list of the books that I absolutely adored.  Some of them may not have reviews on the blog yet, but I promise, if they are on this list, the gushing review is coming soon!  In no particular order,

My Faves of 2012:

Medusa Girls Series (Sweet Venom and Sweet Shadows) by Tera Lynn Childs
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Barronlands Trilogy (The Twenty and The Forgotten) by Claudia Carozza
Easy by Tammara Webber
The Girl in the Box Series (Alone, Untouched, Soulless and Family) by Robert J. Crane
Tiger's Destiny by Colleen Houck
Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves
What a Boy Wants and What a Boy Needs by Nyrae Dawn
Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
The Vincent Boys and The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines
Sea Breeze Series (Breathe, Because of Low, While it Lasts, and Just for Now) by Abbi Glines
Lux Series (Obsidian, Shadows, Onyx and Opal) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Ok, that's it for my year!  I can't wait to see what wonderful reads 2013 brings us!

 

Happy New Year!!

REVIEW: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

I just finished reading "Flat-Out Love", and I had to immediately sit down and do my review while my emotions are still fresh.  It's not every day that you come across a novel that so eloquently weaves a story of sadness, loss, love and even betrayal, all while making you crack up laughing.  It's a love story and so much more.  It takes "dysfunctional family" to a whole new level.  It's about falling in love and healing old wounds and learning to live in the real world after horrible devastation.  Reading this book was like riding a roller coaster.  You're riding up the tracks and you know there is a stomach clenching plummet up ahead and while you're scared to death your adrenaline is pumping and the drop to the bottom is both terrifying and exhilarating.  "Flat-Out Love" is unbelievably real and connects with you on so many emotional levels.  Jessica Park has created a world of multi-faceted characters that you can't help but love.  Julie is snarky and feisty and I want her as my best friend!  She doesn't mind telling anyone exactly what she thinks.  Celeste is quirky and odd yet extremely intelligent and lovable.  And I love Matt's t-shirts!  I loved absolutely everything about "Flat-Out Love"!

5 Stars * * * * *