Girl in Translation

Author: Jean Kwok
Goodreads Rating: 3.94
Pages: 304
Format: Finished Copy Purchased

Introducing a fresh, exciting Chinese-American voice, an inspiring debut about an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures.
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family’s future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition. Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles.
Through Kimberly’s story, author Jean Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely hear about. 
Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant-a moving tale of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in translation.

November Secret Readers

Welcome to the fourth month of Secret Readers! I think that everyone that started with us last month, enjoyed the beginning of the process, but we'll see once they all post their reviews. I already read my book, and already I'm loving that I'm clearing books off my shelves.

How this works:

You sign up below on the Google Survey. You have until October 20th.

Then you hang out and wait while Hannah and I pair you someone. This is where the secret part comes in. On October 25th we will give you your assignment, and then you have to keep it a secret! You can't go around telling everyone who you got. We will include the person's name and the link to their blog and other various information. By October 30th, you have to tell Hannah and I what book you have selected for your chosen partner. Once we have been informed, we'll let your partners know, and then you have until November 30th to post your review.

Sound fair? We think so to.

This is for reviews to be posted in the month of November. And just for clarification purposes, you're only picking one book, and your TBR shelf should be books that you currently have or can easily get to. IE. I don't own The Future of Us by Jay Asher, but I can just hit my library to get it because they have it, or I can borrow it from a friend. If the library isn't easy to get to (Mine is around the corner from my house) then don't add it unless its a book you really want to read, but need to have a good little shove.

Makes sense? I tried, if I didn't, please feel free to email cleanmyshelves@gmail.com with any questions, and I'll make a Q&A post so everyone is on the same page. I'll add a link to a sample list of mine later in the day. So what are you waiting for friends? If you can't access the form below go ahead and click this link!

Secret Readers and their Reviews.

I meant to do this at the end of August, but I was moving and on vacation and it was all a big mess, so here we are with the links to all the participant's Secret Readers reviews for the months of August and September. So please be sure to check them out and if you're interested!

For August:

Mariah read Pushing The Limits.
Kelly had Golden, The Obituary Writer, Shades of Earth, The Clockwork Princess, The Madness Underneath, and The Distance Between Us.
Sana got Everneath.
Nichole finished The Moon and More.
Montana got to knock off Strange Angel's.
I read Hemlock.
Hannah never finished Unravel Me.

For September:

Anastasia had to read Little Women.
Montana read Dare Me.
Shelly got Rush.
Kelly read The Elite and 45 Pounds (More or Less).
Megan was given Anna and the French Kiss.
Nichole had to read The Darkest Minds.
Kaitlin got Of Poseidon.
Mariah read my favorite, Shatter Me.
I was assigned Obsidian.
Hannah finally read Harry Potter. (But never finished it.)

Obsidian

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Goodreads Rating: 4.34
Pages: 335
Format: Finished Copy from BEA12

Starting over sucks.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 
If I don't kill him first, that is.

Secret Readers: October

Welcome to the second functioning month of Secret Readers! I think that everyone that started with us last month, enjoyed the beginning of the process, but we'll see once they all post their reviews. I already read my book, and already I'm loving that I'm clearing books off my shelves.

How this works:

You sign up below on the Google Survey. You have until September 15th.

Then you hang out and wait while Hannah and I pair you someone. This is where the secret part comes in. On September 20th we will give you your assignment, and then you have to keep it a secret! You can't go around telling everyone who you got. We will include the person's name and the link to their blog and other various information. By September 25th, you have to tell Hannah and I what book you have selected for your chosen partner. Once we have been informed, we'll let your partners know, and then you have until September 31st to post your review.

Sound fair? We think so to.

This is for reviews to be posted in the month of October. And just for clarification purposes, you're only picking one book, and your TBR shelf should be books that you currently have or can easily get to. IE. I don't own The Future of Us by Jay Asher, but I can just hit my library to get it because they have it, or I can borrow it from a friend. If the library isn't easy to get to (Mine is around the corner from my house) then don't add it unless its a book you really want to read, but need to have a good little shove.

Makes Sense? I tried, if I didn't, please feel free to email cleanmyshelves@gmail.com with any questions, and I'll make a Q&A post so everyone is on the same page. I'll add a link to a sample list of mine later in the day. So what are you waiting for friends? If you can't access the form below go ahead and click this link!

Hemlock

Author: Kathleen Peacock
Goodreads Rating: 4.01
Pages: 404
Format: ARC for Secret Readers

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater and the hit television show True Blood will flock to this first book in the supernatural mystery series set in a town where werewolves live in plain sight.
Mackenzie Dobson's life has been turned upside down since she vowed to hunt her best friend Amy's killer: a white werewolf. Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country, and bloodlust is not easy to control. But it soon becomes clear that dangerous secrets are lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, Mac's hometown—and she is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her in grave danger.
Kathleen Peacock's thrilling debut novel provides readers with a mystery that Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder, calls "clever and frightening," while Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Firelight, raves: "Forget every werewolf book you've ever read. This one breaks the mold."

Secret Readers: September

Welcome to the second functioning month of Secret Readers! I think that everyone that started with us last month, enjoyed the beginning of the process, but we'll see once they all post their reviews. I already read my book, and already I'm loving that I'm clearing books off my shelves.

How this works:

You sign up below on the Google Survey. You have until August 15th.
Then you hang out and wait while Hannah and I pair you someone. This is where the secret part comes in. On August 20th we will give you your assignment, and then you have to keep it a secret! You can't go around telling everyone who you got. We will include the person's name and the link to their blog and other various information. By August 25th, you have to tell Hannah and I what book you have selected for your chosen partner. Once we have been informed, we'll let your partners know, and then you have until September 31st to post your review.

Sound fair? We think so to.

This is for reviews to be posted in the month of September. And just for clarification purposes, you're only picking one book, and your TBR shelf should be books that you currently have or can easily get to. IE. I don't own The Future of Us by Jay Asher, but I can just hit my library to get it because they have it, or I can borrow it from a friend. If the library isn't easy to get to (Mine is around the corner from my house) then don't add it unless its a book you really want to read, but need to have a good little shove.

Makes Sense? I tried, if I didn't, please feel free to email cleanmyshelves@gmail.com with any questions, and I'll make a Q&A post so everyone is on the same page. I'll add a link to a sample list of mine later in the day. So what are you waiting for friends? If you can't access the form below go ahead and click this link!