Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

Hey Everyone! I hope every body's Holidays went well! Santa decided to surprise me with a Nook Color on Christmas morning. This thing is amazing! Not only can I read books, I can go on the Internet, listen to music, etc! And I still haven't explored all the apps yet! So, since Barnes and Nobles is amazing, their ebook prices are pretty cheap. They even have PupIt! Books, which are new emerging author's books. Those books are usually $0.99- $2.99. I decided to buy one because it looked interesting and I'm kind of obsessed with zombie books right now.

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking is about 19 year old Remy King, who is trying to get across the wasteland that was once called America to find her younger brother, Max. Zombies have taken over, but that's not going to stop Remy.
Usually, really tough girl characters annoy me, but Remy was a bad ass with a heart, even though she tries to hide her feelings sometimes. I also loved some of the other characters too. Harlow is a feisty young teen who follows Remy along her journey. Despite a zombie apocalypse, she always finds a way to put together a great outfit. As much as Harlow might annoy Remy, Remy would kill a hundred zombies for her and she does! Along the journey to find Max, they meet up with a pre-zombie world Rock Star, Lazlo and a doctor in training, Blue. But the best and most random character in the book has to be Ripley, a zombie eating lioness who befriends Remy and the gang. She's the most loyal lion ever!

I really got caught up in the story, so much that I started to ignore people who were trying to get my attention. You know I like a book when I have people talking around me and the TV going and I still have all my attention in the story.

Even if you don't like Zombie books, believe me you will like this book!

Matched by Ally Condie

I just finished reading this great new book. I love when an author creates a whole new world because it's a great escape. It's set in a future world where there is no disease, everything is perfect and is in it's place. But, the catch is you can't make any choices; not what you eat, what to read, who you marry, the Society even picks the day you die. Cassia has always trusted the Society to make her choices for her. So, on the night of her Matching ceremony, she is pleasantly surprised to see her best friend Xander's face show up on the screen. He is the one that the Society has chosen to marry her and have children with. But, in one quick moment her whole world as she knows it totally changes when she sees another familiar face flash on the screen for a split second.  Is Xander her perfect match or is this other boy?

I absolutely loved this book! Ky (the other boy haha) and Cassia are now two of my favorite characters ever. I was so sad when I finished the book. Now I have to wait another year for the next book in the series!

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Let me just tell you how much I LOVE Pretty Little Liars! The books and TV show are my guilty pleasure. I never thought I would like the series, but when I found out that a TV show was coming out based on the books I had to read them. I bought the first three of the series and had to rush through the first one so I could start watching the TV show. Even though the show and the books have their differences, both are amazing! I love the mystery and the glimpse into the high class lives of the girls. Old best friends forced to join together to solve a mystery of their "dead" friend Alison. . As much as Alison tortures the girls, I wound up loving her character. Not that I condone anything that she does, it's just she is the ultimated bad girl with style. I also love all the other girls, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily. I love how Spencer is smart but also not perfect and I love how the Hanna in the TV series is a little bit stronger and less dependent on others. Emily is the sweetest but Aria has the best style. I loved the ending because I had no idea what was going to happen until the very end. Usually I can always predicted what happens, so it's always fun when there is a surprise ending.

Pretty Little Liars Series
1.) Pretty Little Liars
2.) Flawless
3.) Perfect

4.) Unbeliable
5.) Wicked
6.) Killer
7.) Heartless
8.) Wanted

I can't wait until I get my copy of The Lying Game. I know it's not the same series but I can't wait to read a new Sara Shepard book!

Attention authors!

If anyone would like me to review their books, I would love to! Doesn't matter if your new or experienced. Just leave me a comment and I would love to see if we can work something out. I'm new at this so bare with me. haha I also want to become a published writer someday so,  I know how much feedback and reviews can help.

I've been in the process of writing a book since freshmen year of college and I have made a promise to myself that I will finish it by the end of 2011! Wish me luck!

Love, Pinkpam

You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz

Have you ever had a secret love? Someone you spent all your time with and cared for, but no one could know about it? Brian and Annaleah had something special, she just knew it. They only needed each other and it didn't matter what Annaleah's friends said about Brian or their secret relationship. She loved Brian, but then Brian dies suddenly. Annaleah finds herself not able to grieve like everyone else. She is lost and comes to find that she hardly knew who Brian was.

I found myself so emotionally attached to this book. I cried when Annaleah cried and I hurt when Annaleah hurt. The novel is written in verse and I found some of the writing so beautiful and raw.

"A lot of the time you made me crazy,
I was always wondering
where you were,
what you were doing,
why you weren't calling,
what you were thinking,
if you felt the same way I did.
I wanted to be close to you,
spend more time with you,
for you to share things with me,
but you never did.
But I guess I didn't
tell you everything either." pg 120

I picked up this book at random and I'm so glad I did. It tells a story, but also gives advice. You can't let a relationship define who you are, only YOU can define who you are. In life we have to keep on moving or we don't get anywhere.

I think that a lot of people can relate to this story, so if you can pick this book up!

The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O'Hagan

As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe, I read all the books I can about her. This was the first "fiction" book I've read about her, but it was based on true facts about her life. I always knew that Marilyn was a big animal lover but I never knew that she had a maltese named Mafia, Maf for short. Frank Sinatra gave Marilyn the puppy maltese in 1960, right after she lost her dog in her divorce to Arthur Miller.

The story is told by Mafia himself. He explains his short time with Marilyn before her devastating passing in 1962.  As you read the story you really feel like your there with Maf and Marilyn at her New York apartment or out at a celebrity party with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. I feel like the author really got Marilyn's personality right. She was a very tortured soul, but she was also very kind and amazingly talented.

Here are some other books I have read about Marilyn:
* My Story by Marilyn Monroe
* The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli
* Marilyn Monroe (Icons of Our Time Series) by Marie Clayton
* Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? : Timeless Lessons on Love, Power, and Style by Pamela Keogh
* The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie by Tony Curtis, Mark A. Vieira
* Marilyn: August 1953: The Lost LOOK Photos by John Vachon (Photographer), Brian Wallis (Editor)
* Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe, Satnley Buchthal (Editor), Bernard Comment (Editor), Joyce Carol Oates (Introduction)

The Sequel was better?

The Maze Runner by James Dashner was a book I read over a year ago. I remember it was confusing to understand at first but I get angry at myself if I don't finish a book, even ones that I don't like that much. But, it's not like I didn't like The Maze Runner, it just was hard to understand in the beginning. But after the hazy confusion passed it was a pretty good ride. I love when an author creates a whole new world. A boy named Thomas wakes up in a lift and the only thing he can remember is his first name. He enters a world that other boys sent there before him call the Glade. Every morning walls that surround the Glade open up and at night they close. Every 30 days a new boy comes through the lift, but the day after Thomas shows up a surprise comes out of the lift, a girl! The first girl ever to come to the Glade shakes up everything with the message that she brings.

At the end of the book it was pretty evident that there was going to be a second, so of course I had to see what happened to the gang in The Scorch Trials. We learn more about the mysterious WICKED, the group who sent the teens into the Maze. I don't want to give away the plot but I just wanted to say that The Scorch Trials was even more intense then The Maze Runner! The story line seems to make more sense but there are still so many questions that are left unanswered, so of course there is a third book, which is called The Death Cure and it is scheduled to come out around October of next year. Can't wait!
Also, this is coming from James Dashner's blog, http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/, if you live in the following cities/states: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C and San Francisco, and are planning to see the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, you might be viewing a book trailer for The Maze Runner trilogy before the movie. You also might receive a DVD that has a longer book trailer and other promotional materials for his books.
It just so happens that I'm planning to go to see Harry Potter this week, so, hopefully I'll get a copy of the DVD!