Waiting For Wentworth

Review: One Moment by Kristina McBride

One Moment by Kristina McBride

Publication Date: June 26, 2012
Page Count: 272
Published by: Egmont USA
Source: eArc received from publisher in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis From Goodreads:
This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie's life. Now it's the one she'd do anything to forget.

Maggie remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party. She remembers climbing the trail with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can't she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below-dead?

As Maggie's memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?
The latest novel from the author of "The Tension of Opposites," "One Moment" is a mysterious, searing look at how an instant can change everything you believe about the world around you.

One Moment is the first book I've read by Kristina McBride, and I must admit that I really enjoyed it. I thought the plot was a bit different and very interesting. The writing flowed very well and the pacing was perfect. I was immediately drawn into the story, it held my attention and I didn't want to put it down.

The protagonist, Maggie, is trying to deal with the sudden death of her boyfriend, Joey. Maggie was there when he died, but she doesn't remember anything that happened. Maggie must piece together her memories of that day to get to the truth. While finding out the details surrounding Joey's death, she realizes her 'perfect' boyfriend wasn't so perfect after all. Maggie starts to realize that she needs to find out the truth about Joey's life so she could move on with her own life. I can only imagine how hard it would be to find out that someone you loved so much wasn't who you thought they were.

I thought Maggie was a great character and I really liked her. Although she was sweet and likable, she was very naive at times, and too trusting (which ended up really working against her.)

I truly enjoyed the relationships between Maggie and her friends. The author was able to convey how each of them grieved Joey's death differently. They were all sad and devastated, and they all handled it in unexpected ways. But not everyone is who they seem to be, and those friendships will be tested as the truth about Joey is slowly revealed.

There is a slight romantic element that slowly begins to develop as the story unfolds. It was easy to see it coming, and I'm not sure the story needed to go in that direction. I thought it was a bit soon, but I wasn't completely against it because it made sense in a way.

The plot holds just enough suspense to keep your attention. And with Maggie's memories being so sporadic, you never knew when you would be getting another glimpse into the mysterious events surrounding Joey's death. I also felt that revealing the truth of Joey's life a piece at a time added drama and kept the story flowing.

I highly recommend One Moment to anyone who loves a great contemporary. It's a quick and easy read and quite emotional. While not completely depressing, it has plenty of sad and heartbreaking scene.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New Book Covers and a New Book Trailer!

Here is the Book Trailer for Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Have you seen it yet? He's much too young for me, but he's definitely Holy Hella Hotness.

Cover Love: I really enjoyed Lies Beneath, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series, Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath #2) by Anne Greenwood Brown.

Another cover of a 2nd book in a series, Impostor (Slide #2) by Jill Hathaway is the follow up to Slide.

It's been a few days since the cover of Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer came out. The synopsis sounds so weird: "Book two, Scarlet, is based on Little Red Riding Hood. It continues Cinder’s story as she attempts to escape Queen Levana’s vengeance and learn more about her past. The story also introduces readers to Scarlet, a girl living in southern France whose grandmother has mysteriously disappeared. In order to find her, Scarlet seeks the help of Wolf, a street fighter with more than a few mysteries of his own."

TGIF is a weekly feature hosted by Ginger over at GReads. It’s a fun way to end the week by recapping posts and answering the question of the week.

Comfort Reads: Which books do you go to for comfort & familiarity?
Is there a type of book you seek out when you're needing that extra bit of comfort in your life?

I have a few books that I like to read over again that give me the warm fuzzies. Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols. Really, any book by Jennifer Echols is pretty much guaranteed to make me smile. I think that Such A Rush will be falling into this category also because I recently read it and I already want to read it again. Persuasion by Jane Austen (of course!) because I love it so much. And Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare because it's awesome.

Stay with Me by Paul Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published September 8th 2011 by Dial

Synopsis From Goodreads:

An urban romance that will capture your soul, break your heart, and restore your faith in the human spirit.

Fifteen-year-olds Cece and Mack didn't expect to fall in love. She's a sensitive A student; he's a high school dropout. But soon they're spending every moment together, bonding over a rescued dog, telling their secrets, making plans for the future. Everything is perfect. Until. Until. Mack makes a horrible mistake, and in just a few minutes, the future they'd planned becomes impossible. In this stark new reality, both of them must find meaning and hope in the memories of what they had, to survive when the person they love can't stay.

My Thoughts:
First half of the book:
When I first started reading Stay With Me I had a difficult time with the language and writing. It was just unusual to me and I was a little put off by it. But the more I read, the more I got accustomed to it. It's definitely a bit different than what I am used to.

I had a hard time connecting and relating to the entire cast of characters. The 2 main characters, Mack and CeCe, are both 15 but are at completely different places in their lives. Mack is a dropout and has a learning disability (and anger issues). CeCe is a great student who is trying to get into a gifted program at school. CeCe's brother Anthony introduces them after he enlists in the military, hoping that they would connect and help each other while he was away. Even though on the surface Mack and CeCe have nothing in common, they had a mutual interest in Anthony. That was enough to spark an attraction and to begin a relationship.

This is where I had a hard time enjoying Stay With Me. Mack and CeCe's relationship progressed so quickly, and they became sexually active way too fast for my liking. And for being only 15, they had no problems having sex in random places - the rooftop, the park, up against a wall in an alley. Oh, yes they did. If that isn't enough, CeCe's mom figures out they are having sex, but instead of talking to her daughter about safe sex or maybe slowing down with Mack, she offers the kids the basement apartment so they don't have to worry about finding a safe place to have sex. That is just so wrong. (I also had issues with CeCe's best friend, who told CeCe that it was okay to give a guy a BJ on the first date. Really?) It must be the mother in me that finds this type of behavior offensive and unnecessary in YA. I think it sends the wrong message by seeming like it is normal and expected for such young people to have a sexual relationship.

Second half of the book:
About halfway through the book is the life-altering 'event' that changed everything. This was a real turning point for me. It was after this event that I starting feeling for the characters and I began to really enjoy the story. The situations that the 2 main characters find themselves in are more realistic. And their actions in these situations really propel the story forward. I also felt that this was when I got to know the characters very well. I could really see that Mack and CeCe did not have the experience or maturity to deal with everything that was thrown at them. This becomes painfully obvious as the story progresses and gets darker and more hopeless.

This story is heartbreaking, emotional, and bittersweet, and I was happy with the final outcome. Anything different would have been unrealistic, so I applaud the author for having the guts to write a story with an ending like this. I would recommend this book for an older teen reader due to the language, sexual situations, and some extreme violent content.

View all my reviews

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Through To You by Emily Hainsworth

Hardcover, 272 pages
Expected publication: October 2nd 2012 by Balzer + Bray

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. Viv was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after a career-ending football injury, picking up the pieces when his home life shattered, and healing his pain long after the meds wore off. And now, he’d give anything for one more glimpse of her. But when Cam makes a visit to the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees some kind of apparition. And it isn’t Viv.

The apparition’s name is Nina, and she’s not a ghost. She’s a girl from a parallel world, and in this world, Viv is still alive. Cam can’t believe his wildest dreams have come true. All he can focus on is getting his girlfriend back, no matter the cost. But things are different in this other world: Viv and Cam have both made very different choices, things between them have changed in unexpected ways, and Viv isn’t the same girl he remembers. Nina is keeping some dangerous secrets, too, and the window between the worlds is shrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with who this Viv has become and the part Nina played in his parallel story, he’s forced to choose—stay with Viv or let her go—before the window closes between them once and for all.

Parallel world? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? I usually read more contemporary stories, but I can handle a little bit of the supernatural now and then. I don't know what's up with me and the sad, heavy stories about death recently. I'm walking around all bummed out at times. Any suggestions for a light, fluffy contemp book?

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by GReads. It's a great way to share songs that you love, new or old, and spread some music around the blogosphere!

Tune In Tuesday: My Teen Years Special Edition 1981-1986 (aka Everything you never wanted to know about Duran Duran, but learned anyway, like Roger Taylor was/is my favorite. And he's still seriously smokin' hot.) Roger is the one on the right in the 1981 photo, and on the left in the current photo.

You really want to take this trip with me? Don't say you haven't been warned.
I was born in 1968. It was about 1980 when we got this new thing called 'Cable' tv. And we were so happy that our dad decided to PAY for tv. That's right - tv used to be free. Of course we only had 6 channels, but still... Music videos were the new thing, and one of our local stations used to play them ~~late Saturday~~ early Sundays. So you had to stay up late to see what the bands looked like. Then there were rumors of a new tv station that would play only music videos!!! Can you imagine how excited we were when MTV debuted in August of 1981? Music videos 24 hours a day!! Yippee!

I already had the privilege of seeing 2 of Duran Duran's videos, Planet Earth and Careless Memories, and I thought the guys were so handsome! My best friend and I would obsess over them constantly. Her favorite was the bassist, John Taylor. My favorite was the drummer, Roger Taylor.

Then we heard that Duran Duran had a new video that MTV couldn't play because it had nudity in it. Who cares? Bring it on! MTV did eventually play an edited version of Girls On Film, and it's pretty tame.

Planet Earth: Don't jump Simon!!!! Oh no....

Careless Memories:

Girls On Film:

I still remember buying Duran's 2nd album, Rio. And when I say 'album', I mean the vinyl record. Cool, huh? You may know the songs 'Rio', 'Hungry Like The Wolf', and the wonderful Save A Prayer:

My best friend and I were too poor to buy Duran's 3rd album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, when it came out. But her older brother had it, so whenever he was out of the house we would sneak into his room and get it to listen to (I mean crank it up really loud and drive her mother nuts with our fangirl squees!) The first 2 singles from the album were 'Union of the Snake' and 'New Moon on Monday', which were okay, but not our favorites.

But we did really love 'The Reflex':

Along about this time Duran's first album was re-released in the U.S. with a new single. I originally had this on cassette tape, but I don't know if it is still in my stuff or not.

'Is There Something I Should Know?':

Sadness, heartbreak, and devastation found me in early 1986 when Roger Taylor left the band. Thinking about this still makes me sad because it was the beginning of the end of my love affair with Duran Duran. I still love Duran with the original members - not so much with the wanna-be's. Nothing has ever compared to Duran Duran, and I get warm fuzzies just thinking about how much I loved them. I have so many memories tied up with their music, it's like the soundtrack to my teen years. I still listen to them all the time.

I have only loved a few songs from Duran Duran after the first few albums. 'Ordinary World' and 'Come Undone' from the 1993 album titled Duran Duran (aka The Wedding Album).

Then... THEN it's 1995 and I got my Roger back. But only for a video. Oh Happy Happy Day. However, he wouldn't rejoin the band for good until 2001.

I still have a lot of my Duran memorabilia. My daughter is recently obsessing over One Direction and hanging their posters all over her walls. I had my walls covered too back in the day, so I had to pull out some of my old posters to show off. She thinks my guys are weird and look like girls. I think her guys look like girls. I told her let's see if One Direction is still around in 31 years and still making music together....

From Duran's most recent album 'All You Need Is Now'

Winner! June New Release Giveaway Hop

Thank you to everyone who entered my June New Release Giveaway Hop. Welcome to my new followers! I had an unbelievable 2213 entries for this giveaway. If you didn't win, don't worry - I will be participating in this giveaway again in July. So come back starting July 15 for your chance to win a July New Release Book.

The winner is entry #1156 Donna S. Winner has been notified and has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
Congratulations Donna!

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