The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘firefly lane’

Wow! First of all, Happy New Year bloggy buddies! I hope that 2010 was all you had hoped for and I hope you have big dreams for 2011. I do, but that will come in a later post. This one, is to recap my year in reading.

My goal for this year, set by my husband was 67 books. Well, I did it and I surpassed it. I actually read 94 books this year! I have no clue how, but I did and I feel like a major book nerd

This year was not only a big reading year for me, I also started writing a couple of books. I got the first draft done of the first one and started going back through and reworking some parts. I haven’t finished it yet because I took part in NaNoWriMo and actually started writing the sequel to it! I’m about 3/4 the way done with the first draft of it. I can’t believe I’ve started writing books. Even though I have them saved and can open them and read them anytime, it still doesn’t seem real! Hoping for big things in 2011 with this.

I also made some cool changes to my reading habits this year. I started taking part in some YA Book Tours. I was concerned about this for a few months, before I started. I was worried about the deadlines and not being able to finish the books. But that hasn’t been a problem at all and I’ve read some really good books through these tours. I also signed up for NetGalley and BookMooch this year. They are both amazing in their very different ways. NetGalley has offered me a bunch of amazing books, that I probably wouldn’t have picked up off the book store shelf. Plus, most of them are ARCs. A couple of my 2010 faves are from there. Now BookMooch has helped me with my space issue. I, reluctantly at first, did some major book purging. I went through my two full bookshelves and chose the books that I didn’t absolutely loved and put them on BookMooch. I got some pretty good books back in return for them as well. What a cool little nerdy book world we live in.

One of the most significant changes I made this year was finally getting a Nook. It tooks me months to decide what I wanted and ended up with the Nook as a birthday present from my parents. I can’t believe I lived a life without it! Especially on NetGalley. I started the year reading the books on my computer and ended reading them on my Nook. It is so convenient, and a space saver. I didn’t want one at first because I love the feeling of the book, but I do a good job of going back and forth between real books and Nook books, so I am getting the Best of Both Worlds as Hannah Montana would say.

Now, to my faves of 2010! Not all of these were published in 2010, just ones I read in 2010 and loved. I have chosen my Top 10 – in no particular order. Hopefully, by the time I am done writing this post, I’ll be able to narrow it down and tell you what my favorite of the year was. I’m still undecided!

1. Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

In a time where vampires are all the rage, Maizel takes the beautiful blood sucking creature to a whole new level – back to life!

Lenah is 529 years old. After 400+ years, she gave up her vampire love to become a human. The only catch, she had to sleep for 100 years for this to happen.

When she finally wakes up, she’s a 16-year-old girl, so to speak, at a ritzy private school.

I can’t wait for the second book in this series to come out. It focuses on Lenah’s love, who has also become one of my many book love!

2. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

My cousin lent me this book this summer. I had never heard of it and was a little leery before I started. Surely if the book was good, someone would have mentioned it to me and it’s a pretty decent sized book. I always get anxiety with long books. I like quick, easy, fun reads.

I wish someone told me about this book before! Holy Moly! It is one of my all-time faves. I cried as much in this book as I did reading any Nicholas Sparks book!

Firefly Lane follows the lives of Tully and Kate from the time they are teens, all the way through adulthood. This book is different than most I have read because mainly, I am a series girl. I haven’t read many books lately where you live a whole life with someone. And that’s what I think made me love this book so much! I was so close to them, it felt like I knew them and everything about them. The fact that they were both in journalism brought me closer to them as well. I highly suggest this, but make sure you have a box of tissues.

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is one of those series that I stayed away from. I had heard about it, but didn’t know much about it. The first year and a half that I read, I went and bought cheap books, not really caring what they were about, as long as they had pretty covers. After reading The Hunger Games, way late in the game, I won’t make that mistake again!

I am not going to even offer an explainer for this one. If you haven’t read it, go spend your Borders/Barnes and Noble gift cards and go buy it!

Suzanne Collins has become one of my idols. I love J.K. Rowling because she was able to make up an entirely new world. And although it is fiction, it’s believable. It’s so intense and descriptive. Collins was able to do the same thing for me. She made up a world, that is very believable, to the point where you hope that no one else reads the book because you don’t want someone to get the idea that this is how we should live one day.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were both terrific reads for me this year. I still have Mockingjay on my shelf. But I am nervous to read it. 1. I don’t want it to be over. 2. I’m afraid I am going to be disappointed with the ending. I have no idea what it is, but I’ve heard it doesn’t live up to the first two.

4. Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano

Clare is a rookie cop who gets her first undercover gig, trying to figure out who is poisoning politicians. She enrolls as a student at a local university to get the scoop from some poli-sci students and finds herself in the mix of a poisoning mess.

I didn’t get this book on NetGalley when I first saw it because I am a cover snob. I like pink and pretty and this didn’t do it for me. But Robin Spano saw on Twitter that I was a NetGalley nerd and emailed me asking me to read her book. I appreciated her tracking me down, so I gave it a shot and I absolutely loved it, and her! Robin has an amazing writing style. She wrote this book through the eyes of five different people. A different chapter came from a different point of view. It was never confusing and it flowed amazingly! Robin has also become an awesome support system for my writing, but that’s another story for another time and place!

Now, Robin did send me a couple of cover options for her second book, and you better believe it’s pink

5. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

This was another NetGalley find and a fantastic one at that!

17-year-old Louisa Cosgrove wants to be a doctor. In this day and age, that is a normal choice. In the 1800′s however, it lands her in a mental hospital. Louisa knows she’s not mental, and now she has to figure out who put her there and how to get out.

I normally try to stay away from books that are period written. Let’s face it, we all know I like light and easy. When it comes to deep books with words I have to look up in the dictionary, I don’t want to strain my brain, I get enough of that at work. But Eagland didn’t do that. She wrote a book about the 1800′s but made it hip enough to be in the now. This is one of those books where you can’t quit turning the pages because you have to know what’s going to happen next with Louisa and you are just hoping that she didn’t do something that she’s not telling us to get in the institution. Oh, and there’s a love interest that definitely wouldn’t have been publicized in the 1800′s. That’s all I’m saying!

6. Father of Lies by Ann Turner.

In this book, Turner takes history and adds a little flare of fiction! This book is based at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Turner uses the timeline and history of this crazy event and adds a new character, a fictional one to really live and tell the story from an outsiders view.

When I first signed up to read this book, I knew it took place in that era, but didn’t realize until I was done and started doing some research that it was based on the true story. That made this book so much more awesome for me.

7. Matched by Ally Condie

Who would have ever pictured me as a dystopia lover? Well, I guess I am after this year.

In Matched, everything is chosen for you. What you eat, where you work, when you die and even who you marry. They match you with someone you will be compatible with. Most people have never met their matches before, but for Cassia, the slim odds become a reality. She’s matched with her best friend. But when she’s watching a little chip about him, to see if it can tell her anything she doesn’t already know, there’s a glitch, and another boy’s face pops up. Eerily enough, this boy is also someone she knows. But now she’s not sure who she should love and if there was a mistake.

This was a remarkable book and somewhat of a sad love story. Cassia has to live a life of secrecy to find out what will truly make her happy. It’s something we don’t have to live, but something that unfortunately could very likely happen in the future, our great-great-grandchildren’s future, if not further out.

I cannot wait for the next book to come out in this series. It’s one I will definitely buy the hardback in. And I got this book from a tour, so I don’t physically still have it. I will have to buy this one as well, just because I love to have all of them in a series!

Speaking of series, we all know I’m a junkie! Stephanie Plum, True Blood, Private, Pretty Little Liars. You name it, I loved it! This year, I read books in all of these series. I tried to go through and pick out one I loved from each one, but I couldn’t. And I read way too many to put them all down here. If you click here, you can go to my Books 2010 page and scroll throuh and see how I reviewed all of my series books this year.

Ok, so I guess I’ve had enough time to dwell on my books this year and just pick one already. Honestly, I’ve narrowed it down to two and am having a hard time choosing between the two of them. So, I’m not going to. I thought after writing about them both in this post, it would help me make my decision, but it actually made it harder. So, drumroll please. My TWO favorite books I read in 2010 were The Hunger Games and Matched! Looking back on my little summaries of all of my books, you could probably have guessed. When I love something, I love it and I can’t hide my feelings. That’s why I started my book reviews in the first place. I loved me some Jane Eyre and wanted to whole world to know it!

I hope you had as great a reading year as I did, and I hope you’ll help me this coming year in picking out some awesome reads!

Books Read:
Running Dark
Missing Mabel
Manifest
Finger Lickin’ 15
No One Lives Twice
Firefly Lane
The Starlet
Scandal
Always the Baker Never the Bride
To read the reviews on these books, click here.

Pages Read: 2789

Bookmarks Given:
1 bookmark: 0
2 bookmarks: 1
3 bookmarks: 3
4 bookmarks: 2
5 bookmarks: 3

Favorite Book:
There were a few books that I really liked this month, but I would have to say my favorite was Firefly Lane. I could not get enough of it and although it was 400+ pages, I was through it in no time. It’s a fantastic read and I keep recommending it to all of my co-workers.

Least Favorite Book:
I never thought I would say that a Private book would be my least favorite in a month, but Scandal was it. The other books were just so intense, this one didn’t do it for me. I thought it was a little boring, but am looking forward to the next one, as the ending left us with a major cliffhanger.

I did stop reading Match Made on Madison this month. I didn’t really give it a lot of time. I got some other books that I had been waiting on and since I just started, I just as easily stopped. I will get back to it at some point.

Goals for September:
I am really excited for the month of September. For one, it’s my birthday month! Woo! And this year, I am getting a Nook! Woo Again! So, I will probably put some books that are on my TBR shelf aside (obviously they already are) and check out some freebies and NetGalley’s on the Nook.

I have another goal with NetGalley. I want to get better at getting the books read and reviews ready before the books come out. This past month, I wasn’t able to do that. It’s September 1 already and I have three that came out today that I haven’t even started.

I am pretty much caught up with the series I am reading, but this month, I am looking forward to finishing The Hunger Games and the rest of the books in this series that are staring at me from my bookshelf.

And finally, I hope to make some more progress on my writing WIP. I have gone back through and made some additions and changes to the first 50 some pages. I have added some twists and turns that I really like and am still really excited about it. This month, I have a shift change on Friday’s and will be getting off at 12:30 all months on those days. I plan to spend those Friday afternoons, as fall nears, writing on the porch.

Tully and Kate are the epitome of a BFF. The girls meet when they are in their early teens. Tully has major family problems. She doesn’t know her dad, her mom, Cloud, is a typical 70′s woman, addicted to drugs and freedom. All Tully wants is someone to love her, other than her grandmother. She may be in luck when she meets her new neighbor, golden girl, Kate.

Kate is a straight A student, never breaks the rules and just wants to be popular. So she also has something to gain from a relationship with a beautiful, new girl at school.

Firefly Lane takes us from the 70s when the girls meet at the bus stop, through their lives and the turn of the century. As friends, Tully and Kate go through many ups and downs. Tully has the passion to be a network while Kate just wants to raise a family.

I have read a lot of great books lately, but this one is definitely going into my Top 5 of all time. There are so many things that I loved about this, I don’t even know where to start.

One thing I love about this book is following what happened in real life during these times. Being a news girl, big stories always stay with you, along with big people. There were mentions of the 70s stereotypes, Kenny G, Bill Gates, JZ Knight, Virgin Records, Jane Pauley… do you get my drift? While this book is entirely fiction, you remember these stories. Well, I don’t really remember them because I wasn’t born, but I remember hearing about them They helped keep it real for me.

That’s another thing I loved about this book. It was very real. I am a huge fan of fiction that pushes reality, but this book was so real, I felt like I really knew these people. When you meet someone in a book that is a teenager, and stay with them through their 40′s, that’s longer than I have known my friends. You know their secrets, you know everything that is happening in their lives and you feel for them. And they deal with real issues from popularity in school to getting your dream job to raising a family, all things you can relate to .

I felt like I could relate to Kate and Tully on many levels. Of course, I felt an attachment for Tully through her love of journalism. However, she has a little more perseverance than I do in my little pinkie. When I want something, I try my best to get it, but she is hardcore to getting what she wants. Maybe it’s just that our passions lie in different parts of the business. She wanted to be a network anchor, I want to have nothing to do with being on camera. I also see how her job makes it hard for her to be in a relationship. It is very easy to get caught up in a job like this. And the more you are available, the further you will go. If you can up and go at any time, and you are good at your job, you are golden. But as Tully finds out, what is it worth giving up?

Pg49: “Of course I need you. Is Tennessee a top 49 market?”

Ahhh the life of a journalist, putting the job before love, which Tully did a number of times.

As much as Tully pushed to further her career, Katie worked hard for a family. I am not at that point in my life yet, still waiting a couple years before kids, but I still feel like I can relate to Katie’s wanting a family and wanting to stay home with them. Everyone wants to be the best mom they can be, but I’m not sure if I could stay home and not have a side career. That’s where writing comes in. Tully covered my journalism passion and Katie covered my writing passion. Katie tried writing a time or two and never got anywhere with it. One thing I got from this book is to write while I can.

One of my favorite quotes from the books is this:

Pg 183: “Of course you can fall in love. You just have to let yourself. They don’t call it falling for nothing.”

I had mixed feelings for both women. Things that I wished they both would’ve done and said, and not done and not said. I felt bad at them for different times throughout their lives, normally more for Katie than Tully. I can’t believe I had so many feelings for just one book, that wasn’t even a series. 

This book reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Beaches. There was the good girl and the wild child. They come together and are split apart, but their friendship lasts through everything. I should watch that movie soon, once I get my tears back.

I want to warn readers who plan on reading this book to carry some tissues around with you. I wasn’t warned and when it came to the last night I was reading it, I was a hot mess. There were a couple of times throughout the story, where I shed a tear or two, but let me tell you, it got so bad that Michael told me to quit reading it because a book shouldn’t make me that sad!

There honestly wasn’t anything in this book that I didn’t love. I hope that one day, I can write an amazing story like this. I give Firefly Lane 5 bookmarks.

ISBN: 9780312537074
Published: February 5, 2008
Buy from Amazon
Kari borrowed this book from a family member

This week’s Teaser Tuesday comes from Firefly Lane. I had never heard of this book until my cousin name dropped it. She was in town over the weekend, and I was just finishing up another read, so I dove in. It seems to be a really quick read, but the nausea I was fighting. It’s hard to read anything, let alone quick, with an upset belly.

Pg13: “They weren’t really lies, really, just exaggerations. Anything that would make her mom someday say she was proud of her”

I had a hard time picking out just a couple of sentences for this one. Every area that I found a quote I liked, you had to have a couple in front and behind to make it make sense. Hopefully this one suffices… and intrigues!

What are you teasing this week?