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Random Saturdays: GCQ Facts

Hey guys! It's been quite some time since we've posted something that isn't about books. This is why we decided that every Saturday, we will be sharing personal stuff about the ladies behind Geeky Chiquitas! :) For this first post, we will share to you 20 random facts about us. It could also be just about one of us, two of us or for all of us. Enjoy! Numbers 1-5 will be about Beryl, 6-10 about Audrey, 11-15 about Kimi and 16-20 about all of us.

1. I HATED reading books when I was younger. Yes, I really did and now I'm book blogging! Just as they say "Expect the unexpected".

2. I heart fresh orange juice! I could go swimming in it. Ha ha kidding! 3. I can't wink properly. I've tried this many times, but usually people just start laughing. I think I look like I'm having a seizure. 4.  I always screenshot different clothes, shoes, bags, and other "girly" stuff that I want online, then I just keep it there. I normally don't buy them.

  5. I feel queasy when I see blood. I think that's obviously the reason why I can never be a doctor.

6. I do not like ketchup. I think that it's because of the texture not the taste. I really don't like the texture. It feels weird.

  7. I have a problem with series. Even if the first book was nice, I still find it difficult to read the next book. This is probably because I get worried that the next book won't be as good as the first one. The Maze Runner is one of the books that I really liked but didn't read the sequel cause I was worried that the second book might not be as good. I'm planning to read it though in the future.

  8. I only like orange juice when I've actually seen the oranges that were used to make the orange juice squeezed. I don't know why. I usually avoid the orange juice that was bought but drink orange juice that was made at home.

  9. I don't eat mashed potatoes with gravy. It's not just ketchup that I don't like it's gravy, mayonnaise, mustard, and soy sauce too. Although if I were asked to pick one of those to eat I would pick gravy.

  10. I prefer reading the "real" book than the ebook. There's just something about the feeling of the pages and the smell of the book. I also tend to read books faster when it is not an ebook. I don't know why.

  11. My phone gallery has more pictures of my favorite books, OTPs, TV shows, celebrities and more compared to pictures of myself and family/friends. BUT I am not anti social okay. 12. I am obsessed with Doctor Who. Okay, I think everyone knows that. 13. I'm not scared of cockroaches. I like stepping on them for fun. 14. I like spoilers! Do you? I sometimes accidentally spoil people because I tweet too much, but really, it's not my fault - if you really didn't want to be spoiled then you shouldn't have opened social media and blocked the hashtags. 15. Apart from books, I love singing. And watching old movies. Also, musicals.

ALL OF US

  16. The three of us are actually cousins! Well, Beryl and Audrey are sisters, but Kimi is their cool and awesome cousin (HA, I guess it's pretty obvious who's writing this...) 17. The three of us are all Chinese! Our grandparents moved from China to the Philippines sometime ago, and we grew up here. 18. We are all morning people. Just kidding! Quite the opposite actually. We all like sleeping in.

19. We love pizza. It's the best thing ever!!!

  20. We all like singing in the shower. Who doesn't? 

  So those are the 20 facts about us! What did you think about it? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Bloggiesta Wrap Up + New Geeky Chiquitas Summer Theme!!!

This is an awfully late post, but the past week has been way too busy! It was my (Kimi) thesis week, Beryl's finals week and Audrey's graduation! It actually took us longer than just a weekend to get everything done, but we're glad that we've accomplished everything on our bloggiest to do list. ❏  update review archive ❏  add a blogroll ❏  add new friends on Goodreads❏  write 3 reviews❏  do two mini challenges❏  Fix the sidebar❏  edit old posts❏  change one thing on your layout and/or look❏  comment on other Bloggiesta partipants blogs❏  clean up tags

❏  Fix Tumblr 

❏  Add share buttons under posts Unfortunately, we missed all the mini challenges because our weekend was unexpectedly jam-packed. A lot of relatives came over for our cousin's graduation and my brother's birthday, so it was party all weekend. We didn't even have time to participate in chats! Clean up tags: This is on going right now, and this is going to take A WHILE. I'm not sure when we'll finish, but hope to do so soon. Tumblr - still trying to come up with a theme for it. And trying to figure out how to automatically post everything on Tumblr. Hopefully, we'll get this up and running soon. Okay, so maybe there's still so much things we have yet to do.... BUT! We have a reason for not being able to finish everything. And it's because.... Instead of just changing one thing on our layout, we ended up changing the WHOLE layout! We got carried away and just wanted a new look. So, TA-DA!

What do you guys think of our new layout? And since there's a new layout, there are new buttons as well!

We're still thinking of more to add to this! What do you guys think? Do you like our new summer layout? :D

[geekychiquitas]

Feature Follow Friday: April Fool's

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This week's question:

Late April Fools. What was the best prank you’ve played or had played on you? Share!

A: This is a hard question! We've never actually done anything for April Fool's - and that makes us pretty lame. We've always been together every April Fool's, since that's in the summer (here in the Philippines) and all 3 of us usually spend it at our grandparents. We've always had plans to do April Fool's pranks on people in the family, but they never really push through. Maybe next year though! :)

Since we kind of cheated this week, we're sharing one of our favorite pranks instead!

If you guys followed our blog, let us know through the comments, and we'd gladly follow you back! :) We love meeting new bloggers! 

[geekychiquitas]

Wibbly Wobbly Wednesdays: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

Wibbly Wobbly Wednesdays is a new feature on this blog where we talk about any book that has something to do with the concept of time. The book may be about time travel, set in the past or future, or just has a bizarre timeline. If you are a Whovian, you know what we're talking about! :)

We chose 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass for our post this week. This has something to do with time and was good too so we decided to place it in our Wibbly Wobbly Wednesdays feature.

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

Title: 11 Birthdays

Author: Wendy Mass

Hardcover: 267 pages

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.  Synopsis (via Goodreads)

It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited -- after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it? Only time, friendship, and a little luck will tell. . .

[geekychiquitas]

Waiting on Wednesdays: The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

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

WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR:

Title: The Art of LaineyAuthor: Paula StokesPublishing Date: May 20 2014Publisher: HarperTeenSoccer star Lainey Mitchell is used to getting what she wants, and when her boyfriend Jason breaks up with her for no reason, what she wants is to win him back before the start of their senior year. Lainey and her friend Bianca check the interwebz for tips and tricks, but the online dating advice is all pretty lame. Then the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. Didn't someone once say that love is a battlefield? Jason isn't going to stand a chance once Lainey and Bee go all Zhou Dynasty on him... Old school strategy and subterfuge meet modern-day dramarama in the story of a girl who sets out to win at all costs and ends up discovering what's really worth fighting for. WHY WE'RE WAITING:This seems like such a light and cute read and we certainly can't wait to get our hands on this book. The Art of War is also something we all learned in high school, and we really want to see how it plays out in this book. What are you waiting for? Tell us below! 

[geekychiquitas]

Book in Review: Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell

                                                         Title: Summer on the Short Bus Author: Bethany Crandell Format: ARC Paperback: 272 pages Publication Date: April 1, 2014 Publisher: Running Press Kids Rating: 5/5 Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Cricket Montgomery is a rich and spoiled kid, who is sent by her father to a camp. She is already dreading the fact of going to a camp, but what makes her eventually faint is when she finds out that the campers are actually handicapped. The only thing keeping her in the camp is a Zac Efron look-a-like aka Quinn. How will Cricket get through that summer camp? Which will she choose, her Zac Efron look-a-like, or her luxurious life back home? 

This book has a unique beauty in it which is rare to all books. I absolutely agree with what others say that Bethany's writing style is funny and witty. It's also very blunt and clear which makes this book very easy to understand. The writing style made the book very suitable for its target readers. I wasn't exactly laughing out loud, but I definitely shared a few chuckles in my head. I couldn't put the book down when I started reading it. As a result, I finished reading the book in one sitting. I also liked how the book is a cliche, but still wonderfully amazing. Usually, when I read books with a cliche plot, I won't give it a 5 star rating. The difference with this book is that the author was able to write it well enough that I couldn't give it a lower rating.

I admire that Cricket is very honest and doesn't hold back when it comes to telling what's on her mind. The personality that she has is actually very necessary to make the story great. The campers in the Camp I Can made me see the essence of living. Even Quinn, had his own flaws which means no character is really perfect, even though he looks just like Zac Efron. I didn't hate any of the characters. The characters were obviously a result of Bethany's experiences combined with her ingenuity. The lines of all the characters weren't unrealistic, the kind that you would actually say in real life. Like the characters, the plot development of the book was also perfect. I totally understood everything that happened and saw each of its purpose. 

Summer on the Short Bus is a mixture of understanding more about life, teens, and love. It's not just a book where the main character starts to love the camp and the campers and falls in love with a hot guy. It's so much more than that because it comes with different lessons and realizations. The cover is cute, the characters were all fun, the plot was a cliche but likeable, the lines were realistic. What more can I ask? 

I would highly recommend this book to all the teenagers out there. You've got to read this book and join the fun! 

Lastly, I would like to thank the author for providing me a hardcopy of this book. I felt very privileged to have been able to read this book. If there was a new book by Bethany Crandell, I would definetely read it! No doubts. 

Have you read Summer on The Short Bus? What did you think about it? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Gateway Books/Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This week's topic is our top ten gateway books/authors. We will be listing down the books and the authors that go us into reading books and/or reading a particular genre.

Common Picks:

1. Rainbow Rowell

She was the author the got us into loving and reading more of Contemporary YA. She is also one of the authors whose books we would automatically read. Our favorite book by her is Eleanor and Park but we love her other books too. 

2. David Levithan

David Levithan was the author who got us into reading books about the LGBT community. His books aren't all about that but there are some. 

3. The Hunger Games 

When we first read The Hunger Games, we weren't really big fans of Dystopian fiction. After we read this book, we were able to appreciate it even more and started reading more of the books in that genre. 

4. Harry Potter

No explanation needed. We can't imagine life without this book!

Beryl's Picks:

5. Norwegian Wood  This book was very honest and realistic. I was able to appreciate it a lot. I am planning to read more books like this in the future.

6. If I Stay  This is the book that got me into reading - as in actually reading. I didn't read much before but this book definitely changed my reading life.

Audrey's Picks

7. Ender's Game/Orson Scott Card 

I'm not really a fan of sci-fi but this book made me more open to it. Ender's Game wasn't a perfect book but still good and so I do think that other books in that genre will be good too.  8. Rick Riordan  This is the reason why I started loving reading. I was very young when i read his books but I definitely loved them. Ever since then, i started reading more and more, even different genres. 

Kimi's Picks

9. Across The Universe 

I wasn't much of a science fiction fan until I read this book! Though I wasn't satisfied with how the trilogy ended, it's true that this book opened me to a whole new genre I've never ventured into before.

10.. Neil Gaiman

His books are just WOW. I can't stress how much they've changed my life. From Coraline to Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil's works are consistently impeccable in its eccentricity.

[geekychiquitas]

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we gather to share what we have read for the past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to meet new blogs, add new titles to your TBR list, and network with other bloggers.

It was such a busy week for all of us, but we managed to sneak in a few books! :)

LAST WEEK'S READS:

   Strange Sweet Song by Adi Rule (Audrey)

Twelve Steps by Veronica Bartles (Kimi)

Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens (Kimi) Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg (Kimi) Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira (Audrey) 

The Other Way Around by Sashi Kaufman (Beryl) 

CURRENT READS:

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (Kimi)

Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell (Beryl) 

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer (Audrey) 

NEXT WEEK'S READS:

  The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa (Kimi)

The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Beryl) 

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey (Audrey) 

REVIEWS LAST WEEK:

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

The Other Way Around by Sashi Kaufman

Twelve Steps by Veronica Bartles

Everyday by David Levithan

POSTS LAST WEEK:

Top Ten Things on my Bookish Bucketlist Waiting on Wednesdays: To All the Boys I've Loved Before Feature Follow Friday: It's Snap Time

How were your reads last week? What are you gonna read this week? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Book in Review: Love Letters to The Dead by Ava Dellaira

Title: Love Letters to The Dead

Author: Ava Dellaira

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Publication Date: April 1, 2014

Hardcover: 323 pages

Rating: 4/5

Laurel was given an assignment in her English class to write a letter to a dead person. She wrote more than just one letter to more than just one dead person. Through the letters we are able to see her life. She adjusts to her new school. She meets new people and gets new friends. She finds herself a boyfriend. At first we think it's pretty normal but as you go on, you realize that something's not right. What is wrong in Laurel's life? What's going on? Will her secrets stop her from going further in her relationship with Sky?

This book was really good. The writing was beautiful and never boring. When the secret was revealed, I wasn't really shocked since the author has already dropped a lot of clues. That didn't ruin the book though since I didn't really mind. 

I loved how the author wrote the book. I think that if the book wasn't written in letter form, it wouldn't be as great. I loved how the book didn't try to gloss over what happened to Laurel but didn't give too much information either. The moments wherein Laurel and May are shown together were definitely my favorite parts of the book. May seemed like such a great sister and you could see that Laurel adored her. As for Laurel's friends, they were great but to be perfectly honest, I didn't like them all that much. Sky seems great too but I feel like the author wasn't able to show much about him, Hannah, Natalie, and Laurel's other friends.

The romance wasn't the biggest part of the story which I thought was perfect since I really wanted the book to focus on Laurel and how she manages to get over the things that happened to her. I loved how her mother and father aren't perfect but you can tell that they are trying. Aunt Amy was one of my favorite characters since I could see how much she cared of Laurel. She may be a bit too strict but you know that it isn't without reason.

Since Laurel thinks that May is perfect and the book is written in her POV, you could see why Laurel would adore her sister so much. The author wrote the book in the way that you could see why Laurel thinks that her sister is perfect while letting us know that she wasn't even close. The author let us see how messed up Laurel is subtly so that when we do realize that she's that crazy, we're too interested in the story to stop. Dellaira has talent. I could see that in her book. The way she wrote it was simple but you could still feel how complicated the situation was. Laurel was able to get over the whole situation without romance being the reason why. So many books make the hero or heroine solve the problem because of their relationships so I was very glad to see a book that wasn't like that.

The plot wasn't the most unique but the way it was written made the book worth reading. I really enjoyed it and would like to thank the author for providing an arc of the book. I think that people who would like to see more about how strong the bond between sisters really is should read this. People who are just looking for a good book, well, this one's for you too. And for those who want to read something meaningful and deep, this would be perfect for you.

Have you read Love Letters to Ther Dead? What did you think about it? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Feature Follow Friday: Snap It Time!

Snap it Time! A picture is worth a thousand words. Anything and anything. Just give us a pic.

Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Photography Club

French Toast

What's your Feature Follow Friday? What did you think about ours? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Book in Review: The Other Way Around by Sashi Kaufman

Title: The Other Way Around Author: Sashi Kaufman  Format: ARC Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab Rating: 4/5  Almost everyone around Andrew West has their own impression about him. It's either he's goth, gay or emo. You might think that a boy studying in an all girls school, where his mom is the headmaster, is ultimately popular and has lots of friends, but Andrew is the complete opposite. When Andrew experiences an awful thanksgiving, he decides to just run away from home and maybe visit his grandmother's house. Instead of going to his grandmother, he catches a ride with a bunch of older teenagers, who apparently are Freegans. He follows them as they go to different places, eat food from dumpsters and his adventure goes on.

Honestly, it took me a long time to read this book. At first, the book didn't catch my attention even when I read the synopsis of the plot, but while I was reading the book I found myself slowly liking it. First of all, the writing style was easy to understand and thrilling at the same time. The pace was just right, and the author truly knows when to prolong an event. For me, Andrew was a good character but his love interest did not appeal to me. Out of all the characters, Emily was the one I didn't like so much. The plot wasn't that unique, but it wasn't that cliche either. When I reached half way through the book, I seriously loved it. 

There was nothing really special about this book, everything was average. I didn't really know why I gave this book a 4-star rating. It seems like it didn't deserve any higher or any lower. To summarize the whole book in one sentence, it would probably be I enjoyed it. 

That was basically the selling point for me. Any book that I enjoy is good for me because I don't want to force myself to read a book that I don't enjoy. 

[geekychiquitas]

Waiting on Wednesday: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

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

WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR:

Title: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: April 15, 2014

Kindle Edition: 288 pages

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

WHY WE ARE WAITING:

We haven't read any or Jenny Han's books but we think it would be perfect to start with this one. We have heard a lot of great things about it and honestly can't wait to get our own copy. We think that the plot is cool and original. We really hope that we'll like this book and get to read it as soon a we can.

What do about Jenny Han's books? What are you waiting for? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Book Tours: Twelve Steps by Veronica Bartles {Review + GIVEAWAY!}

Title: Twelve Steps

Author: Veronica Bartles

Publishing Date: 03/25/14

Rating: 4/5 stars

Amazon Amazon UK Goodreads

Book Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Andi is tired of being a second-class sibling to perfect sister Laina. There in Laina's shadow, Andi's only noticeable feature is her pretty awesome hair. And even that is eclipsed by Laina's perfect everything else. When Andi’s crush asks her to fix him up with Laina, Andi decides enough is enough and devises a twelve-step program to wrangle the spotlight away from Laina. After all, great hair must count for something. Step 1: Admit she’s powerless to change her perfect sister, and accept that her life really, really sucks. OK, maybe that's two steps in one. Step 4: Make a list of her good qualities besides great hair. There have got to be at least three good qualities, right? Step 7: Demand attention for more than just her shortcomings, and break out of her shell. Easier said that done, but worth the effort in the long-run.  When a stolen kiss from her crush ends in disaster, Andi finds that her prince isn’t as charming as she'd hoped, and realizes she may need a new program--perhaps with less steps! As cracks in Laina’s flawless façade begin to show, the sisters work together to find a spotlight big enough for both to shine.

MY REVIEW:

Twelve Steps is a book about two sisters who go to the same highschool, and both think one is better than the other. Andi and Laina have a tight sibling relationship and are very close, but both have their own problems and insecurities. Andi is in love with Laina's best friend Jared, but Jared has been in love with Laina ever since. Laina, on the other hand, has her own troubled past which she keeps bottled up in her diaries. This is a story of how these two sisters find themselves and break out of their own shells. Twelve Steps is something that I was immediately drawn to right after reading the first few pages. I love reading stories about sisters, it's a kind of trope that I haven't been exposed to more. I think this book would've been very problematic if not handled as light and cutesy as it was. This one's premise is basically "We're both popular but we think the other one is better than the other" Not that I am undermining other people's problems, but that kind of premise would've lacked depth and emotional value if not treated correctly. It is not so relatable or rewarding to read, and would not have worked as well. Reading contemporary has always been difficult to me as I'm usually presented with books that contain the same premises and characters and love interests that it has gotten way too tiring. Twelve Steps was an enjoyable book that definitely exceeded my expectations.  I read it expecting to read something with fluff, but got out with something more. What I loved the most about this book is Andi. Andi was a compelling protagonist who spoke her mind and did whatever the hell she wanted no matter what. It was very easy to relate to this girl, as I myself am the second child in my family, and do strive to be better than my older sister. I found Andi to be a strong and independent character, and though she came off to me as manipulative with her schemes, bottomline is she had a good heart who put her sister first before anything else. This was proven throughout the book when every time she felt second-best or hurt, she was always more concerned about her sister's welfare rather than her own. She also came off as very feminist to me, and I found myself cheering "you go girl!" every time she delivered a piece of dialogue that made me root for her. Her snarkiness and witty humour all came hand in hand.

"First of all, you need to drop the competitive attitude. Dating isn't a contest. And no girl in her right mind actually wants to have guys fighting over her like she's some kind of prize. Laina's a person with feelings, not a trophy for the winner. And you're going to lose her entirely if you don't stop treating her like the toy at the bottom of your cereal box. She doesn't belong to you."

"I don't know what hurts worse: the fact that Jared is such a male chauvinist pig that he can't see why turning my sister into the prize to be won in a stupid pissing contest with Shane Crawford is a bad thing, or the fact that he's never even thought about fighting for me."

Laina was an okay character that I felt was underdeveloped. She didn't seem to progress from Point A at the beginning to Point B at the end. I felt no substantial character development. I was hoping that she would be the one to finally confess about what had happened to her (no spoilers!) but it was Andi had gone to tell the truth. But overall, I thought Laina was a great sister. What I didn't like about this book the most though are the male characters. Shane and Jared... Jesus, where do I even begin? I think I have had enough of scumbag misogynists, but they keep popping up everywhere! Again, there is no problem with creating problematic characters, but I hate it when they stay that way and don't develop. Shane was a crappy character, and yes he doesn't get the girl in the end, but with all chances to change, he never makes an effort and just keeps screwing things up. I was glad to see him go in the end. Jared, Oh God... I can vouch for Andi about how annoying this guy is. He is in love with Laina, but he leads Andi on and even kisses her and thinks it's okay. I don't like how the ending makes it seem like he's such a great guy who defends Laina - you spent the entire year thinking Laina was okay about what had happened just because it didn't technically happen so you automatically assume it was okay? I don't like how in the end he kind of gets Laina (it is implied...?) when he clearly doesn't deserve her or Andi. If Laina had known how poorly Jared treated Andi, I'm sure she'd leave him on the curb to die. The only formidable guy character in this whole book is Dave, who treats Andi like a real person and doesn't use her at his disposal. But I wasn't too sure about the ending as I kind of saw Andi as someone independent and wished she hadn't ended up with any of them. I couldn't see the chemistry between her and Dave, so that contributes to that too. Overall, Twelve Steps was a cute and fascinating read which I recommend to anyone who's in for something light and funny. It was really enjoyable and had some underlying themes, which were best to be just subtle given the tone of the book. It was well-written and had great plot pacing as well. Twelve Steps is definitely a great book of sibling rivalry and finding your place in this world.

About the Author

As the second of eight children and the mother of four, Veronica Bartles is no stranger to the ups and downs of sibling relationships. (She was sandwiched between the gorgeous-and-insanely-popular older sister and the too-adorable-for-words younger sister.) She uses this insight to write stories about siblings who mostly love each other, even while they’re driving one another crazy.   When she isn’t writing or getting lost in the pages of her newest favorite book, Veronica enjoys knitting fabulous bags and jewelry out of recycled plastic bags and old VHS tapes, sky diving (though she hasn’t actually tried that yet), and inventing the world’s most delectable cookie recipes.  TWELVE STEPS is Veronica Bartles's first novel.

Author Links:

http://vbartles.com/

https://twitter.com/vbartles

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorVeronicaBartles

***GIVEAWAY***

OK SO FINALLY, the GIVEAWAY!!!

Here are the giveaway details for this tour:

1 ebook of Twelve Steps & $10 Amazon gift card (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

[geekychiquitas]

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This week's topic is about Top Ten Things On My Bookish Bucket List (could be blogging related, book related etc. -- meeting authors, reading x many books per year, finishing a daunting book, etc.)

1. We would all like to finish reading at least 70 books before the year ends. 

2. Have our own bookstore. We all love books so we thought that it would be great to be able to have a place where we can spread the love for books to the people who visit the bookstore.

3. Read all the classics we have. We don't really read classics so we're trying really hard to read those that we have as real books or ebooks.

4. Become popular book bloggers all over the world. We know that this is hard to achieve but we believe that if we work hard, we'll get this.

5. Meet and greet all our favorite authors like Rainbow Rowell, David Levithan, Stephanie Perkins and more! We have so many authors that we want to meet so part of our bucketlist is to meet them.

6. Be able to design a cover of one of our favorite authors' books. Wouldn't that be super cool? You'll be able to know that you were great enough to actually design the cover of the book of your favorite author. We think we'll probably faint though if this happens, but we'll recover. Don't worry!

7. Collect all our books and pass them to our future children. There's nothing better than the feeling of knowing that your kids will get to enjoy the books that you enjoyed too when you were young. It's like sharing something that's very intimate. Sharing something that will bring you closer to them.

8. Take a creative writing class. Inspired by: Fangirl. It seems like a great opportunity for us to take this kind of class. It only will we learn stuff, we'll have fun as well.

9. Write our own book. We have so many book ideas that we really hope to one day bring those ideas to life. Place them on paper and make them work!

10. Plan and go to a bookish tour. We've never really been in one so it would be great to go to at least new in the future. We really hope that we'll get to do this sometime soon.

What's your Top Ten Tuesday? What did you think about ours? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Book in Review: Everyday by David Levithan

Title: Every Day Author: David Levithan Publisher: Knopf Publication Date: August 28, 2012 Hardcover: 322 pages Rating: 4.5/5 (We wrote this review together, so...) This is a story about a being named A. A doesn't have a permanent body. A doesn't have a gender (for convenience we will be calling A "Being" like a replacement for he/she/it). Being moves from body to body to body, never staying in one for more than a day. A doesn't try to change a person's life or do anything too different or significant when being does stay in that person's body. Being could be a girl today and a boy tomorrow. Being could be Asian, American, German, or anything else. Being can have blond hair, dark hair, brown hair, or dyed hair. Being can be athletic, nerdy, artsy, suicidal, an environmentalist and many more. Being can be rich, poor, or middle-class. A can be the total opposite of what being was yesterday and it's totally normally for being. On a certain day, A meets a girl named Rhiannon while inhabiting Rhiannon's boyfriend's body. A usually tries not to do anything too different while staying in anyone but this time, being just couldn't resist. A finds beingself liking Rhiannon and tries to find ways to meet her, even while in the body of someone else. They slowly build a relationship and get to know more about each other. Can their relationship survive under the circumstances? We actually read this book a long time ago but have put off making a review until now. We needed a bit of time to reflect on this book. Even now, we're not sure if we consider the ending happy or sad. There's something about this book that drew us in. Maybe it's the unique plot? Maybe it's the impossible romance? We loved how Every Day was able to show that though A likes Rhiannon, being is still capable of liking someone of the opposite gender. This highlights the fact that A really doesn't have any gender. Levithan was very clear on saying that A isn't a boy or a girl. A wasn't shown as a masculine character or a feminine one though others might think that A is more male than female. Every Day was an extremely unique book. The plot was new and fresh, totally not a cliche. We love the plot since it makes you realize how creative Levithan is. He manages to make many books with different topics. His characters don't sound the same like some author's characters do. A was the kind of character whose voice was different from the others. Being was a being (as in being-being not being-he/she/it) that had already figured out what being (back to being-he/she/it) needed to do in order to not mess up anyone's life. we loved how the book started and also loved how it ended. We loved how A, though he never really got education from the same teachers for more than a day, isn't stupid. Being makes use of being's common sense and the things being learned while inhabiting somebody's body to survive. As for Rhiannon, she wasn't stupid either. We don't like her very much but we don't hate her either. She was on our neutral side but even so, we can understand why A would like her, why A would risk so many things for her. Rhiannon didn't do stupid things or rush off into danger. She and A were good together. Normally, in books, we like happy endings but we realized that if this book ended happily, it wouldn't be perfect anymore and would seem forced just to please the readers. We also realized that if it ended sadly, we might hate the book, think of it as too depressing. What Levithan did was create an ending that wasn't sad but wasn't happy either. It was more hopeful than happy. Peaceful than sad. The writing was easy to read and would grab your attention from the very first page. It showed everything it had to show and made the events perfect. We don't know why we didn't give it a 5. There's just a tiny little thing that's missing but we can't figure out what it is. Other than that, we loved the book. Have you read Every Day? What did you think about it? Leave a comment!

[geekychiquitas]

Bloggiesta Spring 2014

Okay, this is our first time joining Bloggiesta, so we're kind of new to this. Basically, it's dedicating 4 days (March 27-30) fixing and improving your blog, and ticking off things from your blog to-do list! It sounds like one big fiesta, because you get to do it with other bloggers at the same time. It's a great opportunity to join challenges, giveaways, Twitter chats and meet new people! If you haven't heard of it before, you can check it out here.

❏  update review archive❏  add a blogroll❏  add new friends on Goodreads❏  write 3 reviews❏  do two mini challenges❏  Fix the sidebar❏  edit old posts❏  change one thing on your layout and/or look❏  comment on other Bloggiesta partipants blogs❏  clean up tags

❏  Fix Tumblr 

❏  Add share buttons under posts

This list will most likely get longer or shorter, depending on what we estimate to be able to achieve during those 4 days. It's our first time participating and we really hope we can do everything on this to-do list! Good luck everyone. :)

[geekychiquitas]

Soupy Sundays: On Cliches (5)

Soupy Sundays is a discussion post at Geeky Chiquitas in which we talk about our opinions on certain topics. This week's topic is on cliches.

ON CLICHÉS 

Some people really hate cliches. They say that some plot lines are so overused. Of course it's nice to find a plot which is new and fresh since we tend to see a lot of the same plot lines in every genre. It gets tiring to see all of the same kind of books over and over again. They may be written differently but are, in essence, the same.

It may be so but we think that some books that are cliches are actually nice and enjoyable. We believe that a book's greatness is based more on how it was written. Maybe a book might be a cliche but if it is written well, if the plot was given justice, then it would probably be great for us. There is also a reason for why certain topics become so popular. Maybe that topic was simply great or could be worked with at so many different angles that people found it good enough to be worth reading about over and over again.

We admit that it might be hard to come up with new, fresh topics since there are so many books that you can't help but think: "What's the use of trying to think of a new topic when probably every single one has already been done?" Well, you might think that all topics are covered but we believe that if you think hard enough, you'll find a topic that's new. If you really can't think of one, you can choose to use one that you think hasn't been used much.

There are a lot of plot lines that we want to read yet haven't read yet. Sometimes, we are disappointed about how there are so many books on a certain topic but none on another. On a past post, we listed down a couple of topics that we haven't seen yet in a book that we would probably like to read. There were about ten topics there and we believe that we even had more that we didn't list down anymore. (You can check it out here.)

Even though we would like to see new, fresh topics when we read a book, we cannot deny that there's something about cliches that is kinda comforting. The feeling when you read a book and you already know what is happening is just different. It gives this comforting feeling. Makes you feel safe like nothing's gonna surprise you or anything. You already know what generally happens so you don't feel the need to analyze everything. You can just relax while reading a cliche. 

In conclusion, we don't think that cliches are bad. We believe that a book should not be judged solely on its plot line but by it as a whole. Though we think of it as such, we would still like to see more unique topics. More books that cover new territories. Every plot is worth writing about because someone out there might be looking for a book like that so we hope that writers everywhere try as much as possible to write about different things. Audrey even saw a book on Goodreads that showed you how to sharpen pencils. If that isn't unique and different, we don't know what is.

What do you think about cliches? Leave a comment!