Book of the Month
The Book of the Month for June is Matched by Ally Condie. We are excited to introduce you to this dystopia novel about a ‘perfect’ world where individuals are ‘matched’ with their husband/wife by the government. Ally describes the society much better in the video below! We hope you will read this book with us this month, and listed to our discussion on the podcast at the end of the month.
Book Info:
In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.
About Ally Condie
Ally Condie received a degree in English Teaching from Brigham Young University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Wow………since school started, i’ve read the Mortal Instrument Series AND wake & fade…..that was totally insane….they were AWESOME!!!!!!!!!I’m soooooo happy with how City of Glass turned out and i CAN”T wait until Feb. when Gone comes out! Some good books are:
-the Uglies trilogy(which is totally awesome)
-the Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy (is good, but they speak in old british style so its kinda hard to decipher sometimes)
-the Blue Bloods series(it’s ongoing though so kassie might not like it ha!)
-the Midnighters trilogy
ummm…..no offense but knowing you guys i tried for the least hardcore books i can think of!i hope you consider doing some of these as the book of the month especially uglies. Well, you girls are awesome!keep doin’ watchu doing and rock on!
-Tesa
I absolutely love the uglies trilogy and the blue bloods series too!
I read the uglies series too its soo good. you should read extra if you havent already. Its like the companian book except its after everything that has happened. I’m also reading the blue blood series right now! It’s sooo good.
I love the BLUE BLOODS. I’ve Finished all the Series available Yet. but im Waiting for it :)).
Read WAKE….mainly cuz Kassie was staying on the treadmill (the gym machine I HATE the MOST) on it just so she could keep reading. It was good..but the profanity, drug use and sex I didn’t particularly care for too much.
Read ALL of the STUDY (Poison, Magic, and Fire) books..they are EXCELLENT. Loved Magic Study best, and the way she could communicate with Kiki. (“Kick?” “Yes, but not TOO hard.”.)
Read HUNGER GAMES…was ticked at yall for recommending it when I discovered it had a sequel that WASNT OUT YET. But the sequel, CATCHING FIRE is out NOW…finished it last night…and all I can say is…OMIGOD.
(Re-reading the Host now. Hopefully will like it better than I did the first time.)
Love the Hunger Games series!!!!! I’m so excited for Mockingjay to come out in August.
this series are awesome
I just wanted to know what was going on with the book of the month! I don’t remember you guys doing a podcast for Graceling or maybe I just missed it. If that’s the case, point me toward that episode. I love this podcast/ website and the fact that it does do the book of the month is awesome.
I’ve loved your suggestions for books! I really enjoyed Graceling (not so keen on the sequel).
Right now I’m reading the Eragon series, which is very good but not as gripping as the Mortal Instruments or Twilight Series. On Stephenie Meyer’s website she suggest the Percy Jackson series which I think I’ll try next.
Keep the suggestions coming!
–Marie
PS— I’ve trudged through the Vampire Diaries. It’s a chore to just finish the last one– Not loving the characters, least of all Elena— I think the TV version is much more interesting than the book series (and that’s usually not the case with adaptations, so I think it goes without the saying the books are altogether on the tedious side).
I totally agree with Marie on her opinion of The Vampire Diaries, I found it really hard to get into the books and when i started watching the TV series, i gave up altogether, it’s sooo much better and all the boys and CUTE too!
There has been a lot of buzz about a book recently called Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. I didn’t think the book lived up to expectations BUT try Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Machetta. Finnikin was a GREAT book! It has more of a historical feel than fantasy since there is only a little bit of magic. The characters are just pristine and the story is very exciting.
Beth
vampire academy is a good , no amazing series
read it believe me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
hey, has anyone read The House of Night Series, y’all probs have, but they’re amazin’ and the next one (Burned) comes out on March 27th – READ THEM IF YOU HAVEN’T!!!!!! Xox
The House of Night series is great. I love it! Sucky thing is there is another book with no ETA 🙁
A new book came out and I think you should have it as your book of the month sometime. My friends aunt wrote it and it’s based in the pacific northwest since that’s where I live, my friend lives, and her aunt lives. The book is called The Body Finder. I finished reading it about 3 days after I got it from her book signing. It’s not really long but it’s jam packed with juicy plot lines and twists and even a murder on two (or 7ish)…this story is about a girl that was born with a special power. Her parents knew she was different at a young age because she’s go off into the forest and find dead animals then she’d come home and bury then where their “Echos” were finally laid to rest. See Violet senses or sees or smells or tastes murder. She can find people (or animals) who have been murdered and not been properly laid to rest. But now in the city of Buckley Washington teenage girls are starting to go missing only a few have been found but not alive. No one has found the killer. So it’s up to Violet to stop this.
p.s they’re making a movie of this in about 2-3 years and I get to be the dead girl in the lake….fun fun! Love the show girls!
A couple great (although ongoing series) are the Maze Runner by James Dashner. The second book (Scorch Trials) is going to be released in October. The book is about a group of boys (ages 12-17?) that appear in this place. The main ‘attraction’ is this huge maze that some of the boys try to navigate through to figure out how to escape. These boys create a colony which is thriving until this one boy appears, then three days later the first girl appears bringing a message of the end.
The second is called Wings by Aprilynne Pike. The second book is called Spells and has been released already. Third is still in unknown status. This series is about a girl who finds out, after she moved to a new place, that she is very different from everyone else. It follows this girl and her responsibility of protecting not only her human family, but her ‘world’ at the same time.
I loved the Vampire Academy series!! I also read wings and it was really good the second one spells is out now too!!
Hi Kallie and Kassie,
Love the podcast and the website. I really enjoy listening to the Book of the month discussion as well. Kallie, have you read the book Beautiful creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl? I really enjoyed it. It has witches, vampires, horrible bitchy high school girls and a curse. I found the plot so intriguing that I had to keep picking it up. I have loved most fo the book that you have discussed on the podcast.
I can’t believe that you weren’t raving about the Eclipse movie! It is the best movie so far. Perhaps there was too much hype from your friends before you saw it.
Keep up the great job with the podcast.
Pia
i agree with Pia. i just read Beautiful Creatures and i loved it! i totally recommend it. it’s so different
So, i am new to this whole blogging thing. I have come to a dry spell with books and i am trying to find new stuff that is up my alley. I love twilight, the shiver books, Graceling-i love. I didn’t care for fire as much, but it was ok. She is also writing a third book…Bitterblue. You can guess who it’s about 🙂 I love the Hunger Games, I just finished Mockingjay and it was super good. I loved the Host. The most recent favorite reads of mine were Dark Life by kat falls and Finnikin of the rock by Melina Marchetta. Those were really good and refreshing. Anyway, i would appreciate feedback and recommendations from anyone. I absolutely do not want anymore vampires or werewolves. I’m not too keen of the whole world of fey…although i do own lament and ballad (also by Maggie Steifvater) which i did enjoy. So please, please gimme some good stuff to read….thanks much 🙂
Hey BookGirl,
I read the hunger GAmes too and it was so good. I know you said that you dont want to read anymore vampire books but the blue Bloods series is awesome so is the fallen angels series. BUt Dark CLoud is good too. I’m reading it right now. It’s not about vampire though!
-Elizabeth
Hey BookGirl.
Here are some recommendations with no vampires or werewolves. Book 1= Wake 2= Fade 3= Gone by: Lisa McMann
This series is a light read and very good.
Old Magic by: Marianne Curley -This is a stand alone book. It is hard to find books that are not series these days. Its nice to read a book and not have to worry about cliff hangers and when the next will be out.
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by: Lisa Schroeder- This book is written in verse which is very unique if you have not read a book in verse form before. Will make you cry. Very short but good.
A Certain Slant of Light by: Laura Whitcomb
Gema Doyle Series- Book 1= A Great and Terrible Beauty 2= Rebel Angels 3= The Sweet Far Thing by: Libba Bray
Study Series- Book 1= Poison Study 2= Magic Study 3= Fire Study by: Maria V. Snyder
These are some of my favorite books. I hope you get a chance to read some of them and enjoy them as much as I did.
Serena
I reead all of the graceling books so far and their awesom. Bitterblue the next book will be coming out soon…
Ok, poison study was awesome and I finished in less than a day. Thanks for the heads up, Kassie, I got all 3 books out at once from the library and will easily finish them in theft few days!! Also loved Siren, Certain Slant of Light, of course Hunger Games series and rereading the whole Twilight series. Thanks, all, for the great book ideas! It’ll be a rockin’ summer. Love ya!
i think Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier would be a perfect book for a book of the month!! i just read it and it’s wonderful!! it will be a trilogy with the second coming out next spring i believe… it’d about time travel and a mysterious secret that plagues a secret society. and not to mention a love interest, because what would a book be without that?;) anyways check it out, it’s worth it i promise!!
Just read “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness. It’s the first book in a trilogy (and currently the only one out). It’s a great combination of Twilight and Outlander. DoW is not a YA but there’s no reason teens couldn’t read it. It’s only because the characters are older but it’s an easy, very enjoyable read. It’s long but I flew through it. Check it out. Also loved City of Fallen Angels so much that as soon as I finished it, I flipped to the beginning and started all over again. I love everything Cassandra Clare writes!!
Also – if you’re looking for realistic fiction, you cannot go wrong with John Green. Everything he writes is fantastic and the Prinz committee agrees. “Looking for Alaska” and “An Abundance of Katherines” are great reads but pick up the audio books of “Paper Towns” and “Will Grayson, Will Grayson” which he wrote w/David Levithan. They are amazing! You’ll also love the Christmas book he wrote w/Lauren Myracle & Maureen Johnson called “Let it Snow”. Really, really good! Romantic and funny.
Just wondering if you’ve read The Immortals series by Alyson Noel. I, like Kassie, am an extremely slow reader and get distracted really easily but I was able to get through the first one and am really excited to start the second one (there’s a total of six). Since an awful car accident that killed the rest of her family, Ever Bloom can see auras, hear people’s thoughts and see a person’s life story by the touch. She does not like these powers so she goes out of her way to avoid human contact and has become a freak at school. Then, the mysterious and drop-dead gorgeous Damen Auguste moves to town and everything changes. He silences the noise and random energy in her head when he speaks and her powers do not work on him. Ever is drawn into his world of mystery and she’s left with more questions than answers. The only thing she knows for sure is that she is falling helplessly in love with him. Please consider my recommendation, I think you gals would love ’em.
The first one is called Evermore. (I forgot to include that)
🙂
It is hard to arrange if you don’t speak Japanese. If you’re a tosirut, try send them an email first in English and see if they reply; this gives you a better chance of setting something up.