Blog Tour and Book Review: Emancipating Andie by Priscilla Green

Title: Emancipating Andie
Author: Priscilla Green
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: NA Contemporary
Published: April 5, 2013
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)

Book Description:

Ever since the one time Andie Weber threw caution to the wind - and paid the price for it - she’s learned that it’s safer and smarter to live life playing by the rules. Now she’s got a great apartment, a steady job, and a wonderful boyfriend in Colin; he’s sweet, stable, and essentially perfect – except maybe for the fact that his best friend is Chase.

Chase McGuire lives his carefree, unstructured life strictly for himself. Dripping sarcasm and oozing wit, he refuses to censor his feelings or opinions for anyone, making no apologies for either and wearing his abrasiveness like a badge of honor. No one has ever gotten under Andie’s skin the way Chase does – and vice versa.

So when Andie and Chase find themselves forced to take a two-day road trip together, they are already dreading an inevitable all-out war. But as the trip progresses, and the undeniable friction that has always defined their relationship slowly begins to wear away their preconceived notions of each other, Andie and Chase discover they both have a lot to learn about life, courage, happiness, and the age-old battle between logic and love.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

About the Author:

Priscilla Glenn lives in New York with her husband and three children. She has been teaching English Language Arts at the middle and high school levels for the past eleven years while moonlighting as a writer, mommy, coach, student, and professional laundry-doer. 
If you catch her when she's feeling sophisticated, she'll tell you her favorite things are great books and good wine. In the moments in between, she'll admit her love for anything Ben and Jerry's, UFC fights, and Robert Pattinson. 
Glenn has written three books, although Back to You is her first published novel. You can contact her at priscilla.glenn3@gmail.com

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My Thoughts and Review:

I am a sucker for this type of read. I really can't explain what draws me in. Is it the allure of the hot bad boy that you just know has a heart of gold? The sexual tension sure to be found within the pages of the story? Or maybe just the thoughts of two damaged people coming together to become something neither of them expected or saw coming? Either way they do suck me right in and I just can't help myself, I get caught up in the story and refuse to let go until their story is over.

I couldn't help but like Andie because I saw myself in her. The young woman trying to always do what is right. The girl who is a little bit sarcastic, sometimes blurts things out in the heat of the moment, always looking for something “safe” in friends and family, and the girl with a slight OCD control issue. That just might be me..maybe. A little bit. Maybe sometimes more than I like to admit. Either way, I liked Andie right from the beginning. Don't get me wrong, she had her moments of “duh” that I wanted to shake her a little bit and make her see what her heart was trying to tell her all along but really, she was a great character. Flawed and imperfect like all great characters are. 

Chase. Yum. I really liked Chase. I liked Colin too but Chase had my heart. I loved how they were best friends but couldn't have been more different from one another and really, in my mind, there was always only one choice for Andie. I couldn't help it. 

I loved that this didn't have a happy go lucky ending to the attraction between Chase and Andie. There really wasn't an easy answer or an easy way out. Green made the confrontation and relationship between them all very much real and even emotional for all concerned. 

This is the second book by Green I have read and she continues to amaze me at how easily she draws me into her stories and into the lives of her characters. She knows how to write a strong female lead and a swoon worthy male. 

She is definitely an author that I have on my auto buy list for any books that she writes and after this read will continue to be that way.

*All Opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for my review*

Review: The Registry by Shannon Stoker

Title: The Registry
Author: Shannon Stoker
Series: Book One
Published By: William Morrow (June 8, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Dystopian
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

Book Description:

The Registry saved the country from collapse. But stability has come at a price. In this patriotic new America, girls are raised to be brides, sold at auction to the highest bidder. Boys are raised to be soldiers, trained by the state to fight to their death.

Nearly eighteen, beautiful Mia Morrissey excitedly awaits the beginning of her auction year. But a warning from her married older sister raises dangerous thoughts. Now, instead of going up on the block, Mia is going to escape to Mexico—and the promise of freedom.

All Mia wants is to control her own destiny—a brave and daring choice that will transform her into an enemy of the state, pursued by powerful government agents, ruthless bounty hunters, and a cunning man determined to own her . . . a man who will stop at nothing to get her back.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:

Do you ever have those reads that while it isn't perfect with either discrepancies, unbelievability or the simple fact that some of it just doesn’t seem 'right” you still can't help but love it because the author's writing manages to suck you into the story and you find yourself eagerly turning the pages to see what happens next? And somehow, because the writing draws you in so much, the little things just stop mattering after awhile and you are able to completely overlook them?

Yeah, this was that read for me. I admit, I had high hopes coming into this one because I had heard the hype about it, I know, I know, never a good thing but, I couldn't help it. I was still excited to read this one, especially after having finished the Delirium series by Oliver (which I completely loved) and I really needed something to fill that void. Not that I was expecting this one to so much as just hoping that maybe it would. 

Each new chapter opens up with propaganda from either a magazine or book related to how a boy/husband/soldier is expected to be or the proper behavior for a girl and wife. Even though the articles for females made me want to gnash my teeth and even snarl a little bit, they did actually have a very 50's feel to me. So even though I disliked them, they were actually very believable to me having read articles and advertisements from our own early era in history. Woman were expected to put their husband's wants and needs first before all others, including themselves and children. Where woman were not educated and woman with intelligence and those that spoke out were frowned upon and not valued at all.

And even though I would like to think that our country would never revert back to that time and era of woman not having rights and being made for one use and one use only, I could see it happening. I felt it here in the story and better yet, I believed it possible. 

Did I believe all that the author created in this story? No, not at all. But some of it, yes, very much so. 

Mia. You know, I am still not sure how I felt about Mia. Parts of me admired her and parts of me really didn't like her at all. Was she spoiled and somewhat of a brat? Very much so. But yet, she was strong and brave (if not naive) and didn't want the life they told her she had to succumb to. She didn't want to be a puppet or trophy with no mind of her own. She wanted freedom and a life worth living where a man didn't rule her in every way possible. 

In fact, I actually think I liked the secondary characters in this one much more than the main characters but sometimes, it happens that way.

I had no idea going into this that there would be a sequel and that is probably a good thing because really, we get very little answers about the world Mia lives in and what The Registry really is since it seems much of the people in her life (and really all the females in this story) know very little about it as well. 

I really hope the author chooses to explore that more because I really do think there could be a very interesting story there with a lot of twists if she played it right and I would like to see that happen. 

While I did get sucked into this story and liked the plot line I really think so much more could have been explained and done with it but I would definitely read the second book to see what happens next. 

*All Opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for my review*

Review: Until I Break by M. Leighton

Title: Until I Break

Author: M. Leighton
Series: Book One in the Twisted Series
Published: May 14, 2013
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:

"I’m intrigued. Tempted beyond what I’ve ever been before. To know her, to open her up. To break her."

In love, sometimes what you fear most is exactly what you need.

Laura Drake is an author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control. 

And she doesn’t exist.

Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.

Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare. 

When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.

Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.

The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.


**This book may be read as a stand-alone, as the story of Alec and Samantha comes to a conclusion in this book**

My Thoughts and Review:

Ooo this book. This book is something else. It went way beyond my “comfort” zone but oh boy was it worth it.

Two very broken people, but in a way that I haven't read about before, finding and helping one another, all while fighting their own demons, passions and inner turmoil, well, there really is something beautiful about that. Even if that beauty is also filled with deep  seeded pasts and secrets way beyond the norm and definitely beyond the norm in this genre. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it. It took me by surprise, the content of this one. But in typical Leighton fashion, the author handled it wonderfully, honestly, with the raw and grit we have come accustomed to from her and I shouldn't have expected anything less.

Samantha and Alec, well, really, I'm not going to say anything about them, other than to understand them, to understand this story, you are just going to have to read it for yourself. I can't really explain the emotions of this story, it just isn't something I think I can do and give Leighton and the book credit they deserve.

I wasn't comfortable with a lot of the subject matter of the story, mostly because I don't practice it and I don't understand it, but Leighton made me understand why it was important to Alec and Samantha and I have to give her huge props for that, because it wasn't easy. Only a really gifted writer can do that and once again, I shouldn't have expected anything less from her, she has blown me away time and time again with her ability to get down and dirty (not pun attended) and tackle those hard to hear and sometimes hard to read matters that are so real and make her characters really stand out and become real people. 

*All Opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for my review*

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge Tour Stop!

I am so excited to be able to host a stop on this really fun tour challenge hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviews and The Windy Pages, not only because I have a crazy TBR ARC pile that I am seriously trying to get down but because I love things like this.

I wanted to do something completely different and fun for my stop and hopefully that is what I came up with.

While reading some of my ARCs  lately I have come across some pretty fun (and even some pretty spicy) quotes and I thought it would be fun to play a game where you have to match the quotes with the books. 

The winner will get their choice of either a $5 Amazon Gift card or an ARC paperback copy of M. Leighton's new book Until I Break.


The list of books to choose from I will label  A, B, C, and D.

The quotes I will label 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Just match them up, for instance,  quote 1 goes with A so the answer to the first one is 1A (this is just an example, that really isn't the answer so please don't use it!). There will be a spot on the Rafflecopter form for you to put all your answers. 


To make it fair I will have Rafflecopter draw a winner, the first winner it picks that has all the right answers wins. Sound easy enough?

Are you ready to play?

Okay, here goes!



Book A:
Until I Break

Book B:
The Truth About You and Me

Book C:
Rush (The Game)

Book D:
Another Little Piece

Quote 1:
"I slap my palm against his chest, over his heart. I feel the steady drum of his heartbeat. “You’re lying. You’re alive. I can feel it. Dead. People. Don’t. Have. Heartbeats.” I punctuate each word with a tap against his chest, and then let my hand fall to my side. "         

Quote 2:
"And Annaliese, now with eyes wide open, began to see beyond." 

Quote 3:
" I get the feeling that a man like this could be the end of me, the end of my life as I’ve known it.  I write about star-crossed love every day, about people who need so deeply and feel so passionately that their world caves in around them. I’d be crazy to risk something like that.
But I’d also be crazy not to.   As surely as I’m sitting here, I know I would forever regret it if I didn’t say yes to this man. At least once."

Quote 4:
"All I ever wanted was to be free with you but every time I turned around there were more restrictions, more evidence that I wasn't as old as you were."     

Hopefully I didn't make that too hard or too easy! Good luck to everyone who enters!! 
And once again a huge thank you to Kimba for putting on such a great and fun challenge!!      

                                                               

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

Title: The Book of Broken Hearts
Author: Sarah Ockler
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Simon Pulse (May 21, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!

Book Description:

When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A poignant and romantic novel from the author of Bittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer.

Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one.

Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?

Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong?

Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:

Sarah Ockler is on my automatic buy list (which, surprisingly very few authors are believe it or not) because I just love all her books. The characters, the messages, the sweet (but not too sweet) storylines, the emotions that her stories can bring out in me. I love it all.

So it is no wonder that her latest book was right up there with being one of my favorite reads this year. 

I loved the humor in this, especially considering that this has a very serious side to it as Jude and her family deal with her father's illness. Jude's sense of humor and personality (loved her inner monologue and conversations with Pancake!!) really brightened up this read and I found myself smiling or laughing through a lot of the book Not to mention swooning over the very adorable and very sexy Emilio. 

Emilio, Vargas or no Vargas, was amazing. At times I felt bad for him that Jude judged him right from the beginning. That she let her sister's prejudices against his older brothers dictate how she saw him. It was pretty unfair, especially because he didn't deserve it, no one really does. 

I absolutely loved Papi and my heart broke for him as I watched his memories disappear right along with Jude and her family. Such a horrible, cruel disease.

And although I was upset at times by the way Jude treated Emilio, I did feel for her. She had so much going on and she only wanted what was best for her Papi and family and quite often had to put her life, feelings, and wants on hold as her sister's lives and controlling nature overshadowed her own. 

Jude does grow a lot so she isn't completely helpless. In fact I would say by the end she learned a lot, grew a lot and loved a lot. 

The title of this one is appropriate because I think a few times during this read I felt like my heart was breaking. I am such a daddy's girl that some of the scenes in this one had me bawling like a baby. I love that Ockler can do that. Create such emotion in her stories that make you love the characters and feel like they have become a part of your life. 

I truly loved this read and will continue to have Ockler on my auto buy list. She is a very talented author that always gives me what I want when I want it. 

Love In Bloom Giveaway Hop!

I truly love this time of year and what better way to celebrate spring and the upcoming end of the school year than to have a giveaway?

Once again, I am participating in another great hop hosted by I Am A Reader Not a Writer and Portrait Of A Book!

This time one lucky winner will win one of the following e-books of their choice, gifted through Amazon.

As always I am so thankful for all those that visit my blog, follow it and leave comments. They truly do make my day each time I see new faces and old ones as well. 

You guys are the best!!

To see a full list of all the blogs participating in this hop please click HERE. 

First up, School Spirit by Rachel Hawkins 

Second Choice, Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Third Choice, Nearly Broken by Devon Ashley

And Fourth Option, Truth or Dare by Jacqueline Green

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Extreme Love by Abby Niles

Title: Extreme Love
Author: Abby Niles
Series: Book One  
Published By: Entangled Publishing (April 30, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

Book Description:

New body. New clothes. New men.

Used to the average Joe, Caitlyn Moore is overwhelmed when the supremely masculine Dante Jones walks into her life and expresses an interest in her. At first she pushes him away, refusing to encourage the attention of a cage fighter. Then she learns Dante has a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation. What better way to fine-tune her non-existent flirting skills than with a male who won’t stick around? But Dante has no intention of being a practice dummy; he’s out for all or nothing. Now Caitlyn must accept Dante—violent career and all—or let him go.

Dante “Inferno” Jones has one goal: win the Welterweight Championship. At a time when focus is crucial, the last thing he needs is a distraction. Yet Caitlyn Moore becomes a challenge he can’t resist. When the light-hearted pursuit shifts to a battle to win her heart, his focus is shot. Faced with losing the biggest match of his career, Dante must decide if his extreme life also has room for Extreme Love.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:

I really loved this story the messages behind it and the lessons learned, of course the irresistible Dante “the Inferno” Jones certainly didn't hinder my love for the book at all. That man was smokin' hawt!!
What wasn't there to love about the hot fighter with a ripped body, a heart of gold, that looked all rough and tough but was really a marshmallow inside?

Fans face. Ahem.

What was I saying? Oh right, right, the story. Yes. Yes the story. I remember now. 

Cait. I really did like Cait but I admit, at times I wanted to smack her a little too. Who says no to an extremely hot guy that does nothing but treat you with the utmost respect and kindness? I mean really? Where was her head some of the time? Some of her struggles and insecurities did get a little old. It seemed like she would take one step forward and about twelve back. But at the same time, I liked how she overcame those insecurities (for the most part) and especially how she helped others better themselves and give them the confidence they needed to make the changes in their lives they wanted to. 

I had to admire her for that and the author for saying to the world that your size and looks don't make you the person you are, what is inside is what makes you who you are. How you handle life, how you treat others, being kind and caring and compassionate to those around you, even when they are being heartless to you. Those are the types of things that really prove who you are and if you are ugly or beautiful. You can't go wrong with a message like that and did I mention Dante?

I really loved Paul too and Amy. They were fabulous friends to both Dante and Cait but I especially loved Paul. He is the type of friend every girl should have.

I really loved the ending to this one, the epilogue was great but I was a little sad that it didn't show more about what happened after the fight with Santori. I mean, something should have happened been said, even if in passing. 

Really this turned out to be a great read for me and I read it in one sitting. It really surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. I would definitely look up the author's other work in the future.