The Last Ten Books I Got For Free

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is a "freebie," and I literally am so overworked that all I could come up with was books I got for "free." Is that unoriginal or what? I've gotten a lot of great books for free lately, though, so I'm excited to show off some of my latest acquisitions. They're only roughly in order, though, because I don't really keep track of exact dates. And by "don't really" I mean "don't at all."

1. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

I got this as my free book in the Barnes & Noble summer reading program. I know the program says it's for kids through middle school, but you know what? I read the fine print, and there is nothing in there restricting prize-winners to a certain age group. So I am so totally participating in this program every summer until I die! Or until I become embarrassed by how old I am and still turning in the kids' program, whichever comes first. :P Anyway, my review of Counting by 7s will go live on Friday. It was a gorgeous book, but had some serious believability issues.

2. The Marvels by Brian Selznick

Funnily enough, my review of The Marvels went live this past Friday. This was an ARC I got from Scholastic, after I sent a semi-begging e-mail going on about how much I love Selznick's books and I needed to get my hands on this new one now because I just knew I was going to love it.

Well, I didn't. And I feel bad about that. Because the first half of the book, which told a story completely through pictures, is absolutely beautiful. The second half, told in text, is . . . less beautiful. Click here to check out my full review.

3. A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

This is another Scholastic ARC that I requested. Unlike The Marvels, which I liked much less than I'd hoped, A Night Divided actually surpassed my (already very high) expectations. It's a wonderful book, one that I will most definitely be re-reading over and over again in the years to come. I posted my rave review here.

4. Project Inspired by Nicole Weider

I got Project Inspired through the BookLook Bloggers program about a month and a half ago. It wasn't what I'd thought it was when I requested it (for one thing, it had only a fraction of the page-count I expected), but it was still pretty good. I'm keeping my copy for now in case I want to use it as a reference, but I have a feeling it will vanish during my next belongings purge (i.e. when I go off to college).

5. Cheap Chic by Caterine Milinaire and Carol Troy

This is a book I got through the Blogging For Books program, which usually has slightly better options than BookLook Bloggers. I'm in the middle of it now, and it's pretty interesting: a fashion advice book from the 70s, written for girls who don't have much money. Half of the advice boils down to "don't buy much, but spend lots on what you do," so I'm not sure how helpful it would have been for the truly destitute. Then again, I'm only halfway through it so we'll see. I haven't made up my mind about it yet.

6. The Looney Experiment by Luke Reynolds

This is another BookLook Bloggers read, and it looks pretty interesting. Between my other books and the start of the school year I haven't gotten to it yet, but it's (almost) at the top of the TBR list.

7. Diary of a Jackwagon by Tim Hawkins

This is, yes, yet another BookLook Bloggers book. I only got it two weeks ago and I haven't (as of writing this post, September 2) started it yet. I'm really excited about it, though, because it's by the Christian comedian Tim Hawkins. He's one of the funniest guys alive, and I have literally been sucked into YouTube vieos of his shows for hours on end. I can't wait to start Diary of a Jackwagon!

8. All Fall Down by Ally Carter

This one is only sort of a book for free, because I bought it with a Half-Priced Books gift card from my grandparents. That still counts as free, right? I wanted to put it on thsi list because I'm so excited about it. Anyone who's read my review knows that I really loved it. So finding a hardcover in brand-new condition for only $8, at a store where I had a giftcard, was exciting enough. Imagine the thrill when I opened the cover and discovered that it was autographed! That's right, my new beauty was signed by Ms. Carter herself. Now I call that $8 of free money well spent!

9. Frosted Kisses by Heather Hepler

This was an unsolicited ARC from Scholastic, which I got a few weeks ago. It's sitting on my TBR pile - my "to be reviewed" one, that is, not "to be read." It's in that in-between stage when I've already read it but I haven't gotten my act together enough to actually write a review of it. So I haven't gathered my thoughts about Frosted Kisses yet, but in a nutshell I thought it was a cute story with maybe a little too much petty schoolgirl drama for my taste. Keep an eye out for a proper review coming out October 23.

10. The Missing #8: Redeemed by Margaret Peterson Haddix

This was a Simon and Schuster ARC, arguably one of my most exciting ARCs ever! I'd been reading and adoring the Missing series for like five years, and I was desperate to read the long-awaited conclusion. I poured that desperation into an e-mail to Simon and Schuster, and was overjoyed to find out that my entreaties had been heard - and that a copy was in the mail! Needless to say, all productivity stopped while I devoured the beautiful sucker (because seriously, the cover was gorgeous). It was one of the hardest reviews I'd ever written, though, because I had so much to say I wound up with an abscenely large review that no one would ever want to read. It's shorter now, though still longer than most of my reviews. If you're a fan of the Missing series (i.e. are ready for the spoilers that come with discussing the eighth book in a series) you can click here to check out my review.

Well, what do you think? I've gotten some pretty good books lately. I can't wait to dive into the ones still waiting on my to-be-read pile!

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen, 2015

Click to view
on Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west.
With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.
But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

(384 pages; Release date August 25)

Wow. Just wow. I love Historical Fiction, and I'd been meaning to read more about post-WWII Germany, but I still couldn't believe my luck when I found out that one of my favorite authors would be writing a Historical Fiction set in post-WWII Germany.

A Night Divided is a relatively small book for the punch it packs. It's filled with terror and sorrow and agonizing dilemmas, but also love, friendship, and family. Gerta and Fritz are making huge sacrifices in their fight to unite their family and find the freedom they've only ever heard of. Their mother spends most of the book being a millstone around their necks, fighting to keep them safe the only way she knows how: by keeping them away from freedom. The first time I read the book I kind of hated her, because she was always trying to make her kids give up, give in, and let the government rule their lives. The second time through, however, I realized that she made some very valid points. In the real world, the choice between possible death in search of freedom and (probably) guaranteed life in oppression isn't quite as cut-and-dry as people like to make out. I might root for Gerta and Fritz, and cheer them on every step of the way, but that's partly because A Night Divided is just a book and I know Jennifer Nielsen isn't the sort of author to write the next The Book Thief. In real life, any pretenses at valor aside, I would have to think really, really hard about what to do. The fact that both Fritz and Gerta have files (meaning they've been marked by the government as future traitors) that basically ruin their prospects for the rest of their lives would definitely help tilt me towards leaving, but their mother didn't even know about the files. And since they kept her in the dark about that, I don't think they can really blame her reluctance to risk all of their lives to escape.

Speaking of "the dark," I love the imagery of light and dark that Nielsen uses throughout A Night Divided. Gerta reflects on themes of lightness, darkness, and the sun and moon, using them as metaphors for her situation in East Berlin. At the beginning of the book, when the wall first goes up and she feels the warmth of the sun on her back, she narrates: "This early morning light had not ended the long, dark night. No. For us, the dark night had only begun." Later she looks across the wall and reflects, "it somehow seemed brighter across the wall, as if the sun gave more of its light to the west."
Most poignant, though, is the way she tries to explain why people want to escape East Berlin: "You've seen the sun, Anna. Now that you have, could you ever be content with just stars for light? Would that be enough for you?" There are many more instances of this beautiful light vs. dark imagery throughout the book, but I'll leave them for you to discover on your own.

Nielsen's main characters are very different individuals, in unique situations and settings and all the rest. But the one thing they all have in common is a particular stubbornness in their nature, a certain penchant for breaking the rules. I do love this personality trait, and Nielsen has done it very well every time, but I would like to see her write a completely different character one day. It's Gerta's rebelliousness that is probably the only thing that bugs me with A Night Divided, because there's this separation created between her and her family (who bear "Papa's blood," which somehow makes them more resilient against the brainwashing) and everyone else. Later in the book Gerta references her father's training as the reason she and her brother are that way, but I would have liked a little bit more of a realization that it wasn't just "being Papa's children" that made Fritz and Gerta yearn for freedom. Gerta doesn't seem to realize that there's a difference between seeming content and actually being happy with your life. Some of this might just be the natural result of having a twelve-year-old narrator, though, so I didn't let it bother me too much.

But yeah, I am so happy with A Night Divided. It's even better than I'd hoped it would be! I already knew Nielsen was a talented writer from her other books (including Mark of the Thief, which is Historical Fantasy), but I never knew she could write such a beautiful, poignant novel. Historical Fiction is definitely a strength for her, and I really hope she writes some more books in the genre! In the meantime, I will definitely be recommending this one to readers interested in good books about the Berlin Wall - or just good books, period.

Disclaimer: This is an Amazon affiliate link, and I received an ARC of this book from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesdays: A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen, 2015 (August 18)

Okay, so for those of you who are new to this meme, here's how it works:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west.
With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.
But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

(384 pages)

Here's this week's teaser, from page 1:

It was Sunday, August 13, 1961, a day I would remember for the rest of my life. When a prison had been built around us as we slept.

Let me know what you think of the book, and check back on Friday for my ARC review!