To my German friend:

Wie geht es dir mein deutscher Freund?
Wie gefällt Ihnen mein Blog?

I just won a free book!

I am a subscriber to the blog: www.addicted2novels.blogspot.com and signed up for one of her giveaways, and I won a free book from anything YA that was published in April!  Yippeee!  Thanks, Lena!

Sing You Home

"Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult
Hardcover: 466 pages
Published: Atria (March 1, 2011)

Book Description:
One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds. Like her House Rules and several other previous Jodi Picoult novels, Sing You Home grapples with hot button issues. The novel also includes a CD of songs, each matched with a chapter in the book.

Jodi Picoult sure knows how to write about controversial topics.  I almost always love all of her books.  Each one is so uniquely different.  This book was no exception.  I think that putting gay rights and religion in the same book was something to really think about.  Depending on your religious beliefs, this book could sway your mood either way.  I found that the book touched on things that I already believe and also things that I need to grapple with before deciding.  Her books make you think that way, though.  If you like Jodi's other books, then you'll enjoy this one, too.  Not a YA book like I usually read, but a good author to consider alternating between.  I never got a chance to listen to the music, tho.  Bummer.  (I had it checked out from the library)

Flip

"Flip" by Martyn Bedford
Hardcover: 272 pages
Published: Wendy Lamb Books (April 5, 2011)

Book Description:
One December night, 14-year-old Alex goes to  bed. He wakes up to  find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country, and it's the middle of June. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table are total strangers.And when he looks in the mirror, another boy's face stares back at him.  A boy named Flip. Unless Alex finds out what's happened and how to get back to his own life,  he may be trapped forever inside a body that belongs to someone else.  Questions of identity, the will to survive, and what you're willing to sacrifice to be alive make this extraordinary book impossible to put down.

This was a surprisingly good book to read.  I really like that it was different from other books and ideas that are so common right now.  This book is a fast read and is hard to put down like the description indicates.  This book is about guys mostly, so right away different from most books I read.  Not to say I don't read all kinds, but commonly the books I read are written with girls in mind.  This book will appeal to both.