Hey guys, Rose here.  So I'm updating the haul for this week since I didn't have that many approvals until the end of last week.  And I had well over ten titles, but I"m going to feature only ten since this is usually the thing I do every week.  This is a plethora of books for variety.  As you guys know, I like to mix up my reading a bit and I'm happy to share this bundle with you as well as my schedule for reading them.  Some of these don't release until next year, so some of them I'll be scheduling a bit further out.

 

 

 

 

"Art of Attention" by Erica Jago and Elena Brower

Publisher: Sounds True Publishing

Release Date: 2/1/2016

Rose's Read Date: Week of 1/4/2016

 

Another perfect read for the start of the new year in 2016.  Granted, it's not set to release until a month after I'm reading it, but I think it would be better for me to give this physical movement/mindfulness guide a try and help encourage others to make it a part of their new year goals.  I'm really looking forward to it because I like the approach given in the blurb.

 

 

 

 

"Sugar Skulls" by Lisa Mantchev and Glenn Dallas

Publisher: SkyScape/Amazon Publishing

Release Date: 11/10/2015

Rose's Read Date: Week of 11/5/2015

 

Ye Gods, doesn't Lisa Mantchev have the most eye-catching covers?  I first read her "Eyes Like Stars" and while I was a bit lukewarm about the read, I was still fascinated enough to collect the books in the series (which are gorgeously sitting on my shelf, a few of them unread).  I definitely plan to check into this one, since the cover and the premise intrigue me.  And it's classified as New Adult and Sci-Fi-Fantasy - a rare combo and more of a read I would like to see for the category.  Hoping it's as awesome as it sounds.

 

 

 

"The Wild One: A Brooklyn Girls Novel" by Gemma Burgess

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: 11/10/2015

Rose's Read Date: Week of 11/5/2015

 

I've been wanting to read the Brooklyn Girls series for a long while.  I also have a few of Burgess's other novels via ARC, so this will definitely be a series I want to read before the turn of November.  I like the idea of a group of friends navigating life's ups and downs together.

 

 

 

"Heir to the Duke" by Jane Ashford

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Release Date: 1/5/2016

Rose's Read Date:  Week of 12/28/2015

 

Picking up this read because the author's new to me (yes, I know - I'm so behind) and I could use more historical reads in my palette.  This seems like it might be a read right up my alley, so we'll see how it goes.

 

 

 

"For Love or Magic" by Lucy March

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: 12/1/2015

Rose's Read Date: Week of 11/23

 

I really enjoyed my first read of Lucy March and this was one I got an invite to read, so I'm super excited about it.  I love magical realism, and if it's in the vein of romance with a bit of other elements in the mix, you can bet I'm intrigued by this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Firsts" by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Release Date: 1/5/2016

Rose's Read Date: Week of 11/23

 

This was a title that I'd heard about initially through a lot of blogger circles, and I'm over the moon I got an approval for it, because I heard it was in high demand.  Teen girl searches for virgin guy with a responsible focus on sexuality: um, can you say "holy crud?"  That's really rare in the age group, let alone many romances, so I hope it pans out to be a good read.

 

 

 

 

"Fourteen" by Leslie Johnson Nack

Publisher: She Writes Press

Release Date: 10/20/2015

Rose's Read Date:  Week of 10/19

 

I figured a memoir would be a great read and considering this one is set on the sea and is a novel of survival, it was right up my alley for reading. Figure I would wait until the week of release to read it (which is very soon).

 

 

 

"A Bad Boy for Christmas" by Jessica Lemmon

Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

Release Date: 9/29/2015

Rose's Read Date: Week of 11/16

 

I'm going to give myself a little time to read this one since it's already released and I need to catch up with the series (I bought the first two books of this series because I love the author and I enjoyed my first few reads from her - Jessica Lemmon is totally awesome.)

 

 

 

 

"Smoke" by Catherine McKenzie

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Release Date: 10/20/2015

Rose's Read Date: Week of 10/19

 

So I haven't read anything from Catherine McKenzie yet, and apparently from what many people in my bookish circles have told me - I'm completely missing out. (Hey, I have my reasons!)   This is a study of how people react in a natural disaster spanning over six days time through multiple perspectives.  I like this kind of novel because I like character studies in intense situations, so I'm making this my first read from the author.  But I definitely plan to read what other works are in her bibliography as well.

 

 

 

"Design Your Day" by Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Release Date: 1/5/2016

Rose's Read Date: Week of 12/14

 

Last but not least, another read that would prove perfect for the New Year's resolution that people can follow.  I do like organization/productivity books, so I"m naturally curious to see how this book touches on its respective topic.

 

That's all for this week's list of books.  I'll have another set ready to go for next week, probably once I finish catching up with my reading queue.

 

Until next entry,

Rose

 

Other reviews at The Book Babe's Reads.

 

I was unsure about what to expect when I started Brooklyn Girls. I thought that maybe it might be a little like Gossip Girl, or maybe an older version of The Clique. What I didn't expect was what I got. To tell you the truth, this book actually reminded me of a movie... One For the Money, which I adored!

 

I found Pia to be such a fun, light-hearted character. She was able to stand up for herself, and she had such passion and drive! She was a bit flighty, though. Pia... tended to be a bit on the crazy side, to tell you the truth. She was a partier, and even after she started her business, I felt like she needed to learn some more responsibility. Thankfully, she grew as a character throughout the book, so that didn't turn out to be a problem.

 

What I enjoyed the most about this book was the overall ambiance of it. I enjoyed the light feel, and how even if things were going wrong, it was a happy type book. Pia's business story was so fun, and even if I wanted to smack her sometimes for jumping in headfirst with no thought to what she was doing.

 

Mostly, this book was just lightness incarnate, so I don't feel like there's very many things that I can say about this.

I gave it a fair chance but after 100 pages I had had enough.I had high hopes for this book. I mean come on a group of 20-something girls living in Brooklyn who wouldn't want to read that. Plus I'm usually a sucker for the whole "friends in the big city" type books. However, this book was just so frustrating or me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get into the characters' stories. Probably because the story would jump around a lot and just the execution of the writing was lacking for me.

I hadn’t heard of Brooklyn Girls until I had the chance to review it, and at first, I wasn’t entirely sure it was the right book for me, but I’m glad I kept reading through to the end. There were some things that bothered me, but overall, I enjoyed reading Pia’s story and definitely feel as someone that is in her mid-twenties, I could relate to most of what Pia and the other girls were going through in Brooklyn Girls.

When we first meet Pia, she is an irresponsible party girl that can’t hold a job, or make the right decisions. When her father finds out she’s lost the job at a PR agency that he helped her get, he tells her that she has six weeks to get a job, or she’ll be forced to leave New York and move back home.

That is when Pia decides it is time to grow up and take responsibility for her actions.

Over the course of the book, Pia makes a lot of mistakes (seriously, a lot), but it is from her mistakes that she really learns who she is and who she wants to be. For me, that is one of the best parts of Brooklyn Girls. There is a lot of character development here, and even though at times, Pia manages to get herself into some strange situations, she manages to change from a crazy party girl into a responsible young woman with a successful business.

There is romance, but it isn’t the main focus. In fact, it is rather brief. But I think the way Burgess handled this was smart. While Aidan is an awesome character and I really liked what little what did get to see of him, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed this book as much had their relationship been the focal point of the story. It is hard to find a contemporary new adult read in which romance isn’t the focus of the story, so it was a nice change.

While I enjoyed Brooklyn Girls, there were some things that I disliked:

The Cosmo storyline: I understand that she needed the loan, and while I get that being unemployed and with, I’d assume, little credit to her name, it would’ve been impossible to go through a bank, this entire story line just seem a bit forced and out of place.

How easily she started up the food truck: Starting a business is hard. But for Pia, it seemed to happen with no problem. She decided to start a food truck business, magically found someone selling a food truck, and overheard where she could locate a loan shark, and then proceeded to start up her own business almost without a hitch. It just seemed too convenient.

In the end, Brooklyn Girls is a new adult novel that does a wonderful job of showcasing that in-between phase, where you’re now considered an adult, and you’re forced to learn how to grow up almost overnight. The struggles that these girls go through are realistic (for the most part), and I could definitely relate to the struggles that Pia was going through. She was trying to find herself while trying to carve out a future for herself that would make her parents proud of.

Brooklyn Girls - Gemma Burgess 2.5 starsBrooklyn Girls was in my eyes a fresh book in a new series which could deliver something different. However I had far too many hang ups that resulted in Brooklyn Girls not leaving the greatest impression with me.Pia has messed up big time, a photo of her topless and drinking was uploaded to Facebook and now her agency has dropped her. Her parents then rock up with an ultimatum she has eight weeks to sort her life out, otherwise she will be forced to leave Brooklyn and come and stay with them. Pia realises it’s important to finally sort her life out, she loves living in Brooklyn in a great brownstone with four fabulous girls (one who isn’t talking to her, but that’s beside’s the point!). Brooklyn is the place where it’s at and she doesn’t want to leave just because her parents say so, she’s a grown adult!Half the time Pia didn’t act like an adult and I think that’s the biggest problem I had with her. Some of the decisions she made; borrowing money off a dodgy guy she knew nothing about and not checking with anyone beforehand. If she had confided with any of her flatmates, things could have been a lot simpler. I had a hard time connecting with Pia’s character she was at times a bit rash and didn’t appreciate what she had already. The only characters I really liked were Jules and Coco. I know this was Pia’s story, but if Jules and Coco were given more time to shine; they were nice girls I think I would have appreciated this story more.Another thing which didn’t work out for me was that Pia eventually found herself in a huge mess with no way out. I actually appreciated this part, as finally something other than Pia and her friends partying and getting off their face was happening. But the issue was resolved far too quickly for my liking. This also again happened afterwards with Pia’s parents. They were quick to back down after making threats for like 2/3 of the book. I don’t mind things getting resolved in a book at all; however I do when it happens far too quickly.It’s disappointing that I wasn’t able to enjoy Brooklyn Girls, as a lot of my blogger friends found it to be a decent read. This series is set to continue with the next book told from the pov of Angie, but I don’t think I will be continuing any further with this series.This review can be found on The Readers Den