Book Nerds Across America

Goodreads descriptions:

No matter how faithful love can be…it takes only one moment to change it all.

After Heather Lambert’s parents died in a tragic car accident her senior year of high school, she refuses to let anyone into her heart for fear of being hurt again. Focusing only on school to follow her dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher, the last thing Heather intends to do is fall in love with Josh Hayes.

Josh knows the moment he lays eyes on Heather that she is the one he’s been waiting for. During months of obstacles and denied feelings, he is rejected by her time and time again. 
When he finally wins her love, Josh and Heather start planning their future together…until Heather receives one bit of news she never wanted to hear again. 

There has been a car accident. 

Josh wakes up with no memory of Heather, and his ex-girlfriend, Victoria, is his nurse. Heather must decide if she’ll risk being hurt again and fight for the one man she loves with all her heart. 

Will Josh remember Heather when she needs him the most? Or will Victoria take advantage of this opportunity, pushing Heather away from Josh for good?

Faithful is the third book in the Wanted series by Kelly Elliott

MARY'S REVIEW:

Oh Kelly Elliott and her cowboys. I love thee!

What I liked about the book: I really liked the pace of this one more that the other two. Kelly slowed this one down a bit, and I like that.  The whole drama between Josh and Heather was believable and lovable. I really felt Heather's pain and frustration. As always, Heather had the girls to be there with her!!

What I didn't like: Not enough Jeff (but that is my personal issue) 

Where you can buy the series:

Wanted (Book 1 Wanted Series)

Saved (Wanted Book 2)

Faithful (Wanted Book 3)

Jacque's Review:

Fangirl is about a set of eighteen year old identical twins, Cath and Wren, who are heading off for their first year of college.  They both wrote Simon Snow fan fiction growing up and have a large following.  Wren has decided to move on to boys, drinking, and partying once she is on campus while Cath is still living her life via the Internet.  She attends her classes, but she would rather spend her free time locked in her dorm room writing about Simon Snow.

Cath's roommate, Reagan, is a junior and eventually starts to help Cath come out of her shell.  Cath  becomes friends with Reagan's ex-high school boyfriend Levi, which becomes a little awkward as Cath realizes they may be more than just friends.  Levi is the complete opposite of Cath.  He is very outgoing and friendly.  Cath thinks that because he is two years older he is far more worldly and experienced than she is. There is no way they could have anything in common, right? WRONG....

The one thing that I really liked about this story is that it isn't a "boy meets girl they fall instantly in love" sort of story.  Levi and Cath are friends.  They have issues like everyone, but they learn from their mistakes and grow from them in the process.  I was "rooting for them" (if you have read the book...you understand the significance of that sentence) and I was very happy with how it ended. 

At the end of every chapter there was an excerpt from one of the Simon Snow books or from some of Cath and Wren's fan fiction.  Cath also reads several sections of her fan fiction to Levi throughout the book.  It was interesting to hear parts of the story, but I found them to be confusing at times.  Do these books really exist?  Maybe it is because I don't know the story or the characters that I couldn't really appreciate those sections as much as I probably should have. 

I did love the rest of the story about Cath, Wren, Reagan, and Levi.  They are all such unique characters, but they all needed each other in some fashion.  This is the first book of Rainbow's that I have read.  I really enjoyed her writing style and will definitely read more of her books in the futures.

Flo's Review:
I have had so many misses with this book. First,  I saw it on Netgalley. I read the description and thought, "Ehh.." and didn't request it. Then I was literally in the line at BEA for Rainbow Rowell's signing, but I got out to go to Holly Black's line. (I was #199 or #200 in that one, so I kind of don't regret that.) Finally, with all the raving I was hearing about this book, I suggested to the Book Nerds that we make this our October read.

I've never read any of Rainbow Rowell's books, but I've seen and heard great things about both Eleanor & Park and Attachments. Now, after reading Fangirl, I hope to read the other two as well. There were two things in particular that made this book great. First: the characters. Hands down, Rainbow's strength as a writer -- at least judging by this book, which is the only one of hers I've read -- are her characters. They are so quirky and real and lovable. Mostly quirky! At first I thought Cath was a little extreme, but the more I learned about her history and growing up -- aka her parents -- it made sense. Levi is officially on my Fictional Boyfriend List. I loved all the description about him and how lovingly Cath saw his imperfections. She thought that they were beautiful and so I did as well. Also, Levi's personality was just amazing. He was the perfect gentleman -- always chivalrous, always letting Cath know how he felt, but never pushing her. I need Levi in my life! I mean, I used to live in Lincoln, NE and why wasn't he there when I was?!?!? Granted, I was like 10 years old, and Levi is a fictional character, but that's just details.

The second thing that made this book really great for me was the actual fangirl part. It is no surprise that I am a fangirl. I fangirl New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments...and on, and on, and on. I was literally laughing and smiling at some of things Cath said -- like, at one point she said something to Reagan about how's she big in the fandom and I was thinking, "I know!" I, by no means, am a Magicath in any of my fandoms, but at the risk of sounding arrogant, I do think I am recognized in at least some of them. Reagan was basically like, "What?!?!" and that made me laugh -- because I know that I sound just like Cath when trying to explain some detail of the Hunger Games fandom to some of my friends.

I completely understand why this book got all the hype it did. I read it in a weekend and enjoyed the ride the entire time.

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.
Until now, that is... 
For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other. With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking? (from Goodreads)

Flo's Review
This book was interesting in that I started to listen to it and thought, "Nah, I don't really like it..." But then, I must have been deluding myself, because I couldn't stop listening to it! Eventually, I was completely hooked. I even ended up having to drive like an hour away for an event that I missed (but that's another story!) and I wasn't even phased by it because I knew it would let me keep listening to this one.

I got this audiobook as a prize directly from Jessica Shirvington. At the time, it wasn't even out in the U.S. yet -- I'm not sure about now. What I do know is that the audiobook is Australian and that means that the narrator has an accent! It was really cool! (Yes, it's the little things that entertain me...)

But back to the story. Ethan <3 The way Jessica kept describing him bite his bottom lip made me want to bite it, to! Surprisingly, this intended effect worked for me, where in other books the overly repetitious lip biting thing has just annoyed me. (I'm looking at YOU, Fifty Shades of Grey!) I have to admit, though, that I did not like the end. The very end, I mean. There was one last element that seemed too forced, too fake for me. Had the story ended a chapter earlier I would have liked that a lot more.

GIVEAWAY TIME!
I'm paying it forward by giving away this audiobook! AND it's signed by the author! Just leave a comment about audiobooks (anything you want to say about audiobooks) and I'll choose a random commenter to win. Please include your email address in the comment so I can get in touch with you if I need to!