Book Nerds Across America

The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

So, guess what?! The Book Nerds have been chosen for the Mystery Blogger Award! {insert happy dance} Um, it turns out we were actually nominated for this back in April and I just now saw it because #FloFail. Whoops. At any rate, better late than never, right?! Right!

Here are the rules of the Award:

1. Put the award logo on your blog.
2. Thank whoever nominated you and include a link to their blog.
3. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link to their blog as well. (Maggie @okoto enigmas blog)
4. Tell your readers three things about yourself.
5. Nominate 10-20 people.
6. Notify your nominees.
7. Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice, specifying one weird/funny question.8. Share a link to your best post(s).


1. I'll be taking care of this as soon as I'm done with this post. Excited for the new bling!

2. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Catfairy Books! I am so sorry I just now saw this! If anyone is reading this who hasn't seen her blog yet, you should definitely check it out. She updates regularly, is writing a magical realism book, uses lots of fun pictures and GIFs, and loves Dawson Creek! Basically, it's a win all around: http://catfairybooks.com. 

3. Thanks to Okoto Enigma's Blog for starting this fun: https://www.okotoenigmasblog.com. 

4. Let's see...these are going to be completely random. 1) I'm not a fan of olives. 2) Today (August 8) is the 28th anniversary of my sister seeing our favorite band, New Kids on the Block, in concert for the first time. My parents told me I couldn't go because I was too young, and I legit am still sad about it to this day. 3) I own 4 sets of the Hunger Games trilogy books. It might even be more, honestly, but I can think of 4 of them at this current moment. 

5. 10-20?!?! Hah! I don't think I know that many people. How about 1-2? That's better. So any of the owls at Owl Always Be Reading and Jacque at Jacque's Book Nook -- you're up. I suggest not waiting 4 months like I did....

6.  I'll be taking care of this as soon as I'm done with this post. 

7. Here are Catfairy's questions with my answers:


I swear I am not coping out, but I had so much fun with these questions that I am passing them on to my nominees!

8. Best post? Well, here's one I'm super proud of: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2011/03/divergent-by-veronica-roth.html. 

Book Summary

I (Flo) decided to jump on the Stacking the Shelves train! As Tynga explains, Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!"

Yes, I have multiple copies of this book. But it's one of my favorites, and for awhile there it was $2 on Amazon. And it's so pretty! How could I say no?!

These are all audiobooks. Jandy Nelson and Meg Wolitzer are coming to Books and Books on Monday, November 2. I just finished reading Jandy's book The Sky is Everywhere and I loved it, so I'm eager to start on I'll Give You the Sun. I'm participating in the TLCReadAlong to read all the Lunar Chronicle books before Winter, so I'm hoping to catch up with Cress.  

Just today one of my friends made the comment about how Hollywood is running out of ideas because there are so many books to movies these days. What do you think? Do you agree? Are you loving it, or is it a little bit of overload?

At any rate, you may know that the I (Flo) love, love, love The Hunger Games! I read all the books before any of the movies came out, and I loved them as I was reading them. But the movies have also intensified my love for the trilogy. So it's not surprising that I'm doing a Hunger Games giveaway as part of the Books to Movies Giveaway Hop!


The WINNER gets a copy of The World of the Hunger Games and a DVD of the first movie! US only. Enter via the Rafflecopter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


And now, hop on:

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(Here's the link if the Linky doesn't work: http://www.bookhounds.net/2015/08/books-to-movies-giveaway-hop-october-2nd-to-10th-sign-ups-now-open.html)

Flo's Review
I recently read Cecelia Ahern's book Rosie Dunne, which I found out after I started reading it was going to be a movie starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. I love both these actors so I was absolutely excited to see this movie.

It was a cute movie, but I think that I would have enjoyed it more had a not read the book, or had I not read the book so recently. The book spams almost the entire lives of Rosie and Alex, so I understand that we could not have a movie that long. So the movie ends up cutting and condensing in interesting ways. For example, one semi-big character was cut and his role in the story was transferred to another character. I remember being concerned when this same thing happened to Madge in The Hunger Games. The explanation I heard was that having multiple minor characters is okay in a book but does not work well for a movie. I can understand that. Also, events in both Rosie's and Alex's stories were cut and/or altered. This did not break the movie for me, but enough changes were made for me to think, "Wait, where's this character?" or "Wait, what happened to the part where?"

What I liked best about this movie: Sam Claflin. I love this man. See?

Me with Sam Claflin at the Mockingjay Part 1 U.S. premiere.

Because I came to know Sam as being Finnick in The Hunger Games, and I love Finnick so much, I thought that I would be watching this movie and think "Finnick!" every time Sam was on screen. But that did not happen at all. Sam did amazing job portraying Alex. His facial expressions captured a lot of the thoughts that we know Alex is having because he writes about them in the book, but that he cannot really just come out and say in the movie because it wouldn't make sense.

Suzy spends her year in first grade waiting for her father, who is serving in Vietnam, and when the postcards stop coming she worries that he will never make it home. (from Goodreads)

Flo's Review
It's true! Suzanne Collins wrote a picture book about the year her father served in the Vietnam War when she was a child. It's a heart-wrenching read -- very well done in that way that it handles such a heavy topic for a young audience. The illustrations by James Proimos do a great job in matching the tone of the text. 

Giveaway!
I was able to snag an advance copy of this book, which comes out September 10, 2013, to give away to one of you! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter below. The contest is international, and ends August 5. And as we Hunger Games fans say, "May the odds be ever in your favor."
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust. (from Goodreads)

Flo's Review
Okay, you may not remember this, but once upon a time the Book Nerds all read Die for Me by Amy Plum. While the other 3 raved about it, I had issues because I felt like it was trying to be Twilight. But I liked the story enough to read on, and the second book in the trilogy, If I Should Die, was distinct, unique, and amazing. I loved it. This is exactly how I feel about The Testing. Basically, this book was trying to be The Hunger Games. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. But that's because I liked The Hunger Games. I think if you liked The Hunger Games, you'll like this one. If you didn't like The Hunger Games, you won't like this one. Let me give you some examples...

Cia, the main character, reminds me a lot of Katniss in the way that her mind works when she's figuring out the people around her and trying to stay atop of her situation. Seriously. Going through Cia's thought processes during her challenges, I felt like I was in Katniss' head in the arena. The one difference between them, to me, is that while Katniss is not very trusting, Cia is too trusting.

Tomas is the boy from Cia's colony. (A colony, is case you're wondering, is basically is the same thing as a district in the Hunger Games. Both are dystopian North America, both basically organized by their livelihoods, and in the case of Cia's colony (Five Lakes) and Katniss district (12), both are outer dwellings that the Capitol (Hunger Games)/Tsou City (Testing) tend to not think that highly of.) But back to Tomas. He is a boy from Cia's colony who is nice to everyone and everyone generally likes. He also gets chosen for the Testing, and while he and Cia aren't together before they both leave Five Lakes, they end up being a couple. Needless to say, Tomas reminded me of Peeta and he and Cia reminded me of Peeta and Katniss. The difference here is that I felt like Tomas and Cia's love story was way too rushed. I know that extreme circumstances beget extreme emotions, but I'm pretty sure they have only been hanging out together for about a week or maybe two when they professed their undying love for each other.

Cia discovers pretty quickly that the Testing candidates are being watched at all times. This leads to Cia and Tomas "acting" and saying things to increase their own and their friends' likability. Not to mention, Cia has an unfortunate run in with genetic mutts during the story as well. I'll stop there with the Hunger Games comparisons because I don't want to get spoilery with this book, but the comparisons don't stop there. The Testing is brutal and heart-breaking because of the same reasons that The Hunger Games is.

This leads me to a larger question...do we have a new "formula"? Like, you know how some books basically follow a formula and are somewhat predictable because of it, but you read them and like them anyway because they are entertaining? I don't just mean genre -- I have been telling people for awhile now that my favorite type of books are "YA dystopian." I mean formula, like you have this setting, and then this happens, it leads to this, here's the final showdown, and end book. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

As for The Testing, it comes out June 4th. I grabbed my copy from Netgalley. If you liked the story of Hunger Games, you'll like The Testing. So check it out. As for me, I am looking forward to the next book The Testing: Independent Study, because I am hoping it will pull an Amy Plum and turn The Testing into a unique and interesting story of its own.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our Fictional Boyfriends and we thought it would be nice to do a "12 days of Fictional Boyfriends".  It is like the "12 Days of Christmas" but with hot men!

Okay, I couldn't think of any more boys I like who the other Book Nerds wouldn't want as a fictional boyfriend, so for my third day of these 12 Days of Fictional Boyfriends, I decided to follow Mary's lead and just post about my #1 fictional boyfriend, who incidentally is also from The Hunger Games...





Simply put, I once told a friend that "Peeta Mellark is the sweetest guy that was ever written in fiction."  I liked this image because it includes my very favorite quote from the series, which is actually said by Haymitch in Catching Fire, the second book of the trilogy.

I'm going to keep it simple, stop there, and make this interactive. What is your favorite thing about Peeta Mellark? Or your favorite quote of his?

Rafflecopter has spoken, and the winner of The Girl Who Was On Fire - Movie Edition is ...

SPOILER ALERT:  This review includes spoilers for The Hunger Games trilogy. If you haven't read all three books, please go do so now because they're incredible!!! And then come back and read this review :) 

It's no secret that the booknerds LOVE The Hunger Games trilogy (well, except for Jacque, who has yet to read them. But she's new, so we're giving her a little time to get them read before we volunteer her as a Tribute.)

So, needless to say, we were super excited to hear about The Girl Who Was On Fire, a collection of essays all about the books from several authors we know and love. I (Flo) was lucky enough to receive an Advance Readers Copy of the book and spent the entire time while I was reading it remembering just how much I loved the trilogy, as well as looking at things I'd thought about before in lots of new and different ways.

Thirteen writers, including Sarah Rees Brennan, Lili Wilkinson, Bree Despain and Carrie Ryan discuss The Hunger Games in regards to topics that range from politics to fashion, from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to science. I thoroughly enjoyed every single essay. They were all very different, and each one led me to at least one, if not several, new ways of thinking about the trilogy.

OK, I know it's not Sunday or even Monday, but I'm (Flo) having the BEST In My Mailbox week and I just have to share! In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

Here's why my IMM is so fab this week -- first, I won a couple of awesome contests right before I went to Australia for a week, so I knew the prizes would be waiting for me when I returned. Secondly, I got goodies from the awesomest co-admin ever Mary for this blog, and lastly, because I splurged on some international books, which are just so neat! Here, let me show you....


The top three books are the UK editions of The Hunger Games trilogy. Splurge! I saw The Hunger Games and thought I should at least get the first book. Then the only other one that store had was Mockingjay, which was my favorite read of 2010, and one of my favorite books overall. I had to get it, too! I found Catching Fire at another bookstore, and, you know, I needed to complete the trifecta.

Next to Mockingjay are some of the new Book Nerds cards! You'll see these when we send you prizes =) The second row starts with the special edition Twilight, with the red pages and white cover. It's gorgeous. I kind of regret not getting the rest of the series. The middle book is The Key to Rondo, and I got it because it's a short-listed book from The Children's Book Council of Australia. It looks like a Chronicles of Narnia type adventure. Above it, though it's a little hard to see in this picture, is my new "I'm a Book Nerd" keychain. Fitting, huh?!

The Hunger Games is for the winner of our First in a Series contest. Bottom row: an autographed audiobook of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater!! =D I won it in a Twitter contest. Finally, Playing the Field is Australian chick lit.

Most fun IMM ever.