Always Me

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. Johnny and Jamaal are both up-and-coming sports players from entirely different worlds - Johnny is a white Canadian ice hockey player and Jamaal is an African-American basketball player from the ghetto. When they meet, the clash ignites a powder keg of racial conflict to rival Ferguson. Johnny's best friend's African-American girlfriend, Chantal, sets them on a quest for truth and justice in the racial landscape of America in 2016. As the chaos intensifies an MLK-like figure that may be able to help heal, but will society be able to return from the brink of disaster? Johnny and Jamaal by K.M. Breakey is not at all my usual type of read (it's New Adult (or possibly older YA), features sports, and deals with incredibly difficult contemporary topics), but it's definitely worth reading. It's couldn't be more timely and Breakey draws out the issues of racism a...

So...Ages ago, Emily @ Ink, Inc. nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award.  Thanks so much, Emily - if you haven't heard me talk about her blog before, it's one of my favorites!  Anyway, sorry for putting this off for five months, I accidentally forgot about it.  Sorry! Anyway on to the tag , here are seven facts about me: 1. I got my cat a new scratching post for Christmas and it's quite a bit bigger than his old one and has a couple of added toys to it.  He played with it once before going back and laying on the carpeted based of his old one which I had moved to the other room.  He hasn't even looked at his new one since then... *sigh* 2. I received probably 15 lbs worth of candies, chocolates, and other goodies over the course of the holidays - and I probably polished off 1/3 of it by the day after Christmas.  That can't have been healthy, but it was so delicious! 3. The next two movies I plan on seeing at the movie theater are A Mo...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting one of my upcoming reads, The Trial ( Pulse #1) by R.A. Crawford .  I just received a free ecopy by the author of this action-packed sci-fi novel starring an all female cast in exchange for an honest review.  I'm really looking forward to starting in on as it sounds like it will be epic. Beginning:  The...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Marissa Meyer's Stars Above is a collection of nine stories from the world of The Lunar Chronicles , some of which had been previously released. I had already ready "Glitches", "The Queen's Army", and "The Little Android" before I listened to this audiobook of short stories. All were very good, but my favorites of the rest include "The Keeper", "Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky", and "Something Old, Something New". "The Keeper" focuses on how Michelle Benoit comes to take care of Princess Selene before she becomes the Cinder we know and love. Plus, we also get to see young Scarlet develop her relationship with her grandmother. I love all four of our leading ladies, but admittedly Scarlet is my least favorite of the group. However, I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I expected, especially since we get see Michelle and Scarlet forming their strong bond. Of course, we find out quite a bit...

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  This weeks topic is Best Books of 2016 - it gives us a bit of choice if we want to narrow it down any more, so I'm narrowing it down to Best Debut Books Of 2016.  Each title is linked to my review, so here we go in order of release date: The 13th Continuum  by Jennifer Brody  - Release date: January 1, 2016 - I really lucked out when I won this series opener during this fall's YASH!  It's a great YA dystopian that's set in an underwater totalitarian community a thousand years after some kind of apocalyptic event occurred.  Definitely for fans of Divergent  and the tv series, The 100 . Revenge and the Wild  by Michelle Modesto  - Release date: February 2, 2016 - If you're looking for a fast-paced and action-packed YA steampunk with sci-fi, fantasy, and western elements, you can't get much better than this! These ...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ When the murderer of Alex Craft's sister walked free, she made sure he wouldn't get off scot-free. She knows how to kill a man. She doesn't get caught, but she knows she can't trust herself around other people even in her small Ohio hometown. She tries to become invisible and go unnoticed, just make it through the rest of the school year. However, Jack does just that - he's the guy everyone wants to be, or be with, as the future valedictorian and a football star - he hasn't been able to forget her considering his role in her sister's death years ago. He doesn't just notice her, he wants to really get to know her. Peekay, the Preacher's Kid whose identity is wrapped up in her father's profession, does too as both girls volunteer at the local animal shelter. The two slowly become friends and Peekay begins to see that Alex is much more than she would have expected. Over the course of senior year, Alex, Peekay, and Jack begin to c...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. It's already the day after Christmas - wow!  Time sure has flown this month!  Since this is the last week of the month, I'm sharing two of my favorite Christmas songs by Frank Sinatra.  Sinatra is easily one of my favorite vocalists, but somehow I've never featured him on Music Monday (although I have mentioned him on my blog befo...

I can't believe Christmas is already here!  Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it!  I hope everyone will have a safe and happy holiday season, and a great weekend.  Maybe Santa will leave some great new books under your tree!   Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Finn, The Cat in the Santa Hat!

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting a book I'm just about to start,  The Sword of Summer ( Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan .  I'm really excited to start in on this novel - Rick Riordan's take on Norse mythology! Without further ado: Beginning: Yeah, I know.  You guys are going to read about how I died i...

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  This weeks topic is Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree.  Here we go, in no particular order: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Illustrated Edition  by J.K. Rowling  - As a huge fan of this series, I need to add this to my collection. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Illustrated Edition  by J.K. Rowling  - So many scenes I'd like the illustrations from - this'll be a great addition to my collection. Replica by Lauren Oliver  - I've never tried Lauren Oliver before, but this sounds like a great place to start. Yesternight by Cat Winters  - Winters has quickly become a must read author, and I can't wait to try her newest novel. Jeremy Poldark  ( The Poldark Saga #3) by Winston Graham  - After completing season two of the new adaptation, I'll have to read the two books ...