Review: Another Little Piece of My Heart by Tracey Martin

Title: Another Little Piece of My Heart
Author: Tracey Martin
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Harlequin Teen (December 1, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

Book Description:
What if your devastating break-up became this summer’s hit single? In this rock-and-roll retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, music can either bring you together or tear you apart.

At her dying mother’s request, Claire dumps Jared, the only boy she’s ever loved. Left with a broken family and a broken heart, Claire is furious when she discovers that her biggest regret became Jared’s big break. While Jared is catapulted into rock-star status, another piece of Claire’s heart crumbles every time his song plays on the radio.

The summer after her senior year, it’s been months since the big break-up, and Claire is just trying to keep her head down and make it through a tense trip to the beach with her family. But when Jared shows up, and old feelings reignite, can Claire and Jared let go of the past? Or will they be stuck singing the same old refrain?

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

I am a sucker for anything Austen related, books, movies, retellings, you name it, I will read or watch it. I never worry about it ruining the classic or any other such nonsense because simply put, I just have fun with it.

But with all my Austen love, I have never read a retelling of Persuasion, at least, I don't think I have. I don't remember reading one although I have read many others that she has written so I jumped at the chance to. Why not? I loved the first, maybe I would even love this more modern version of the story. 

After all, it never hurts to try. Right?

This was actually a really cute read and one that surprised me with, considering the rock star status, how realistic it felt. 

Claire was definitely not mild and meek Anne Eliot from Austen's Persuasion but instead she was somewhat opinionated and feisty and even sarcastic at times.  I like that the author changed her character  and personality up but still kept the meat of the original feel of the story by having very similar circumstances of her break up with Jared (Wentworth) and keeping it all very entertaining and fun in the process by adding a modern twist and spin to it. 

Overall this was a great modern retelling that I really enjoyed.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Mini Review: Snowed Over by Angie Stanton

Title: Snowed Over
Author: Angie Stanton
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Vanguard Management (October 12, 2012)
Source: Purchased
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
To college student, Katie Brandt, ‘Home for the Holidays’ sounds like hell. When her parents separated, their holiday traditions shattered like a dropped ornament. What could be worse than celebrating Christmas with her suddenly single mom and mom’s new boyfriend?

Alex Walker, an engaged 20-year-old, dreads going home for his own reasons. He has a daunting task ahead of him and wishes he could skip the holidays altogether. So when a friend of a friend needs a ride north, Alex finds that having beautiful Katie seated by his side proves to be just the distraction he needs.

A simple ride home for Christmas turns into a nightmare when light snow rages into a full-scale blizzard. Katie and Alex find themselves stranded, and a vacant cabin becomes a haven from the storm.
Under different circumstances, time alone with Alex would be the ultimate Christmas gift, but Katie knows Alex is engaged and she must hide her growing attraction.

However, Alex harbors a secret that just might change this holiday from the worst Christmas ever, to the best.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

I have been wanting to try a book by Stanton for, well, forever and for whatever reason I just haven’t' been able to squeeze one in. When I saw Snowed Over and saw that it was a novella, I knew that I finally had to try one of her books. I am so very glad I did because this was a really sweet love story and perfect for the holidays.

It had enough depth to feel like I got to know Katie and Alex and just enough spicy moments to satiate the romance lover in me. This truly was a really fun quick read that had everything I love in it and more.


I can say this with absolutely conviction that this will not be my last Stanton book. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were  not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Happy Thanksgiving From My Guilty Obsession!!

I adore this time of year when families get together, lots of yummy food is being made with love and we can all remember what we are thankful for and just how good we truly have it when we have one another, a warm place to be together and good food to eat and a safe place to lay our heads at night.

I want to thank all of you for all of your comments, posts, insights, support, and friendship. I never thought it would be this much work to start and run and blog but all of you make it worth it and I am truly thankful for that.  I hope that you all have a wonderful and safe day and have many things to be thankful for, lots of good food and drink to partake of and new memories to create whether you celebrate the holiday or not. 

*Image is credited to Assaggi Restaurant.*

Review: Ink Is Thicker Than Water by Amy Spalding

Title: Ink Is Thicker Than Water
Author: Amy Spalding
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Entangled Teen (December 3, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
For Kellie Brooks, family has always been a tough word to define. Combine her hippie mom and tattooist stepdad, her adopted overachieving sister, her younger half brother, and her tough-love dad, and average Kellie’s the one stuck in the middle, overlooked and impermanent. When Kellie’s sister finally meets her birth mother and her best friend starts hanging with a cooler crowd, the feeling only grows stronger.

But then she reconnects with Oliver, the sweet and sensitive college guy she had a near hookup with last year. Oliver is intense and attractive, and she’s sure he’s totally out of her league. But as she discovers that maybe intensity isn’t always a good thing, it’s yet another relationship she feels is spiraling out of her control.


It’ll take a new role on the school newspaper and a new job at her mom’s tattoo shop for Kellie to realize that defining herself both outside and within her family is what can finally allow her to feel permanent, just like a tattoo.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:
Having read another of Spalding's book I knew that I really wanted to give this one a try as well. Spalding seems to have a knack for bringing out the realness in her characters and in the situations that they are put in. She doesn't hold anything back and just lets it all hang loose and lets it fly.

This was not only a great coming of age story but a great story about the family dynamic as well. 

I really loved Kellie. She didn’t' have it all figured out, quite the opposite in fact but she rolled with it. She didn't overreact when difficult things came her way. She wasn't full of angst even though she very well could have been and most of all, she liked who she was (even though she was still figuring all of that out) and she loved her family fiercely.  

And gosh did I love her family. Her mom and step dad where just..well, they were pretty fabulous. So loving and nurturing even when things got tough and they did get tough. No one in this story is perfect and no one has anything figured out but they all love each other and they all care about one another and that is what mattered most. What matters most in all families,m in all our lives is to know that we are loved and that someone has our back and they did, they all had each other's back and I loved that about this story. 


Spalding has once again created something special and unique and something real. She doesn't hold back the punches, she digs right into the nitty gritty of families, of high school and of relationships and she makes it all realistic and she makes it all work beautifully. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Title: Roomies
Authors: Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Little Brown Books For Young Readers (December 24, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!



Book Description:
It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.


National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:
I love reads about college life, living in a dorm, eating cafeteria food, getting up for classes, moving far away from family and friends and just finally being on your own and ready for life to truly begin. There is just something so appealing about it to me, so of course when I saw this one and I knew I wanted to read it.

I was expecting something fun, different and just ready to have a good time with it, and maybe even hoping the authors would throw in a good life lesson or two along the way for good measure. 

Elizabeth (EB) and Lauren are going to be roommates the upcoming college year and though they live 3000 miles apart with very different lives when the story begins, over the course of the summer through emails they slowly get to know one another as they both prepare for college life. 

What starts out a little awkward and rocky grows into a friendship (albeit sketchy at times) where before too long, the girls are sharing their life story with one another. In the course of doing so, we too, get to know Lauren and EB. 

This was cleverly done both through first person perspective (flipping back and forth from Lauren to EB) and through emails back and forth between the girls.

This was a great story about two very different people coming together, growing up and learning about themselves as much as about each other. 

I think it was a very realistic story about what it means to get older and make those tough life decisions that we all have to make once we get older and become adults. I liked watching the girls grow over time through each other and alone as well. The two dynamics of their family life was a really well done and added a lot to the storyline. 


I would definitely pick up another book from these authors in the future.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Blog Tour Guest Post and Book Review: Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Racing Savannah
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Book Four in the Hundred Oaks Series
Published By: Sourcebooks Fire (December 3, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary


Book Description:

They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

About the Author:

From gender roles, to parental expectations, to the influence of faith and the classic teenage search for identity, Miranda Kenneally isn’t afraid to take on all the hot-button issues of modern teen life. She is the author of Catching Jordan, Stealing Parker and Things I Can’t Forget, and is the co-creator of the website DearTeenMe.com. Miranda also writes and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. 

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Guest Post:

Which of your female heroines are you most like?

Thank you for having me today! To be honest, I have a bit of all my characters inside me. I have Jordan's voice - I sound like her when I talk. Yes, this means I have a potty mouth from time to time, and I'm super sarcastic. 

When I was younger, I was like Kate in that I didn't understand that people have different beliefs. I wasn't judgmental to people's faces like her, but I still thought "my way is the right way." I didn't understand that people think differently than me; it was a rude awakening when I found out. I also like doodling. 

Parker and I have a bit in common, in that when I was a teen, I would do things to make other people think a certain way about me. I didn't understand that people could misinterpret my actions and therefore think the opposite of what I wanted them to think in the first place. Now I know just to be myself.  

But of all the characters I've written, I'm most like Savannah. Not that I'm interested in horses, but that I stand up for myself and go after my dreams. I work really hard to accomplish my goals, and I don't let anyone tell me I can't do something if I want to do it. In Racing Savannah, Savannah learns that even though she's poor and nobody in her family has ever been to college, she has the right and the strength to apply to any school she wants. 

I hope that in reading Racing Savannah, all girls and women will learn that they have the right to do anything they want and have the power to go after it. 

My Thoughts and Review:

Miranda Kenneally has a knack for creating outstanding, down to earth characters that you instantly relate to and fall in love with. It just might  be what I love most about her writing. That easy flow of dialog, the lovableness of the characters and the real life situations that are so easy to imagine and picture yourself in.

Once again she captures the essence of first love, what it means to be different, fighting for what you want and believe in and standing up for yourself perfectly in Racing Savannah. 

Savannah is a strong heroine. She is a fighter. She fights for her family, for her friends, and for what she wants from life. She has to be one of the strongest, bravest heroines I have come across in a really long time and I absolutely adored her. 

Just like Kenneally can write a strong heroine, she can also write a swoon worthy, equally as strong hero and that is exactly what she delivers in Jack's character.

Although they are two very different people in very different worlds, they are both trying to prove themselves and make something out of what they have. 

I couldn't have created a better bunch of characters if I tried. Not only do we get a whole slew of new ones to fall in love with, but, we get sneak peaks at the old ones we have already fallen in love with from past books (Yay for Will, Parker, Sam, Jordan, and Kate).  And come on, this book is about horses, hello, almost every single girl at one point or another in their lifetime dreamt about owning and riding horses. Great characters, crazy horses, a sweet sigh worthy romance and great life lessons, what more could a girl ask for?

Kenneally has was again proving to me why I not only love her writing but adore this series. This is one series, one author I will continue to have on my auto buy list. 

*All thoughts ans opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Indie Book of the Week: Cornerstone by Misty Provencher

It has been way too long since I have had an Indie Book of the Week featured on my blog. I have decided that in November I am holding off on the blog tours, the guest posts and even on the ARCs (with a few exceptions of course) and instead finally concentrating on that stubborn TBR pile I have. The one with all my favorite series and authors that has been long neglected. And while I realize that I won't get them all read, I am hoping to put a big happy dent into it nonetheless. 

So what better way to do that than to start with a series I have been dying to read since...well, sadly, years. really now, how pathetic is that?

So what series am I talking about, why Misty Provencher's Cornerstone Series of course. I have heard nothing but great things about this series and since I have talked to Misty several times and have loved her other books, I just knew this was something I needed to finally make time for. 

Title: Cornerstone

Author: Misty Provencher

Series: Book One in the Cornerstone Series

Published: november 7, 2011

Source: Purchased

Genre: YA Fantasy

Book Description:

Nalena Maxwell has been branded ‘The Waste’ at her new school, due to her mom's obsessive paper hoarding. Nalena desperately wants something to change in her life, but when she receives a sign (and it's the wrong dang one) inviting her into a mysterious, ancient community, too much changes. What she knew of her family, what she thought of her life and what she believed about her future, is no longer applicable. Seventeen years worth of family skeletons come crashing into Nalena's life and it is the boy...the one that smiles at her like he wants to hear everything she'll ever say...that already knows her powerful secrets. But it is only Nalena that can choose between protecting the life that is already crumbling beneath her feet and the one that might sacrifice everything she could ever have.

*Amazon*

About the Author:

Author of Cornerstone and Keystone, from The Cornerstone Series. Oh, and I like mustard on my eggs.

Website

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My Thoughts and Review:

Oh Misty let me count the ways I love thee.

1. Writing a totally kick butt book with an original storyline and  fantastic characters.

2. Writing something that flows so nicely together that before you know it you are done with the whole thing and left wanting more.

3. Writing this wonderful series that isn't only action packed but also has an edge of romance that will put a smile on your face.

Honestly, I could go on but I won't because I don't want Misty to get a big head (although, she deserves too). It is so nice to run into something in this genre that isn't only original but hello everyone, it is an indie! A well written kick butt indie at that.

I wish I could say picking up this and reading it was all my idea but the fact is that it wasn't. I picked this up with the urging of several very well liked and respected blogger friends and you know what? I love that they pushed me so hard to read it because I really did love it. Not that I am surprised because Misty is pretty awesome and I have loved her other books so why not this one too? Why in the world did it take me so long to read it? Why?!

My only regret truly  is that it took me so very long to pick it up and sink into the pages. Shame on me because this is one read, one series and one author that you don't want to miss out on. 

This was fun, imaginative and truly unique in ever sense of the word. I can not wait to read the second book and get even more. I am so not done with this series and I am sort of glad I did wait as long as I did to read it so that I can pick up the next book without hesitation or having to wait for it to be released. 

I really loved getting to know Nalena and the world that she was thrust into. Oh and have I mentioned Garrett yet? No? Well let me tell you, he is one boy you don't want to miss out on. One boy that I can quickly seeing others labeling as a great “book boyfriend”. He is everything that Nalena needs and everything that she could ask for. 

I really look forward to seeing where Misty takes them both in the future installments. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author. I was not compensated for this review.*

Release Day Blitz: Deadly To Promise by Mia Hoddell

Deadly to Promise (Elemental Killers #2)

by Mia Hoddell

Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy

Blurb:

A broken promise is all it takes.

Becoming an E.K isn’t a choice for Serena – it’s a necessity to survive. To destroy the Elementals she has to leave her old life behind. She has to train and follow a strict regime. But with time against her, she has only a few weeks to master the skills Kai spent his whole life perfecting.

The knowledge passed down from her ancestors is crucial to the Elementals demise and the success of their mission. However, the path they must follow is lined with riddles, each more confusing than the next. It doesn’t matter how close to succeeding they get, it’s never enough. The Elementals are one step ahead at every revelation and that can only mean one thing – the E.Ks have a traitor among them.

For one week only, both Deadly to Love and Deadly to Promise are 99c / 77p!

Buy Now: Amazon | Amazon.co.uk

Excerpt

“Have you ever been swimming here?” I asked moving my head to watch his reaction as I brought my feet up out of the water and folded them beside me.

“Yeah, most summers when I came here. We all used to use it as a way to cool off or just have some fun in between training.”

“How about skinny dipping?” I asked my grin growing due to the thoughts running through my head.

“Why? You want to try it?” he challenged.

“Only if you go first,” I laughed but stopped instantly when he removed his shirt and tossed it behind us. My eyes widened in surprise and I started to regret my words. “You’re not being serious are you?” I stuttered as he pulled off his shoes, throwing them over to where his shirt was crumpled.

“You can’t chicken out now Rea. It was your idea,” he said smiling as he removed each sock, teasing me as they ended up with the rest of his discarded garments.

I just stared at him, my lips moving but not making a sound as I tried to find an excuse.

He laughed at me. “Relax Rea, I’m just teasing you. Well unless you’ve changed your mind. In that case I’m being deadly serious.” He had a cheeky grin on his face as he spoke and I pushed him hard, toppling him into the water below.

There was a lot of splashing but Kai surfaced finally, taking a deep breath as he flicked the hair out of his eyes. I was clutching my stomach in fits of laughter as I bent over. The shock on his face was priceless.

“Oh you are so dead Rea, so, so dead,” he said, his voice ragged as the cold water and shock affected his half naked body. I just continued to laugh as he floated in front of me, his head bobbing up and down in a comical way.

Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers #1)

by Mia Hoddell

Genre: YA/Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy

ASIN: B00BDQ3QGA

ISBN: 978-1-291-41025-9

Blurb

The world is dangerous – but love will kill you.

Little did Serena Jackson know that one simple, flirty remark to an anonymous guy online would lead to her world being changed forever.

She doesn’t know him, but inexplicably, is drawn. She knows it is wrong but she agrees to meet.

His real name is Kai. He is beautiful. And immediately Serena feels herself blindly falling for him even though she senses a lie. She knows he is hiding something and it terrifies her.

What she doesn’t realise is that her entire life has been built on secrets and lies. The people she loved left her in the dark for a reason.

She trusted them. She trusts Kai. But as he pulls her straight into the heart of the danger the lies and deadly secrets are revealed. They overwhelm her, and the person she once was no longer exists as she is thrown into a ruthless world of elemental forces. The price of truth is her life—and now the world wants her dead.

Buy Now: Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback) | Lulu

Praise:

“I couldn't put it down. So I finished it last night and all I can say is WOW! This book was amazing and different.” Brianna (Book Blogger)

“I loved how the author took a different approach to writing a love story in modern times with the paranormal element present. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and refreshing. Marvelous!” Kathy H (Amazon Reviewer)

“In the end I had fallen in love with this story…completely untraditional it was a very original idea, not to mention modern. This story had such a good plot and the story structure was sound.” Kacii – The Kooky Bookworm (Book Blogger)

About the Author

Mia Hoddell lives in the UK with her family and two cats. She spends most of her time writing or reading and loves anything paranormal. Mia always had a love of writing but never reading. She was more interested in sports and hated sitting still - despite getting three poems published before the age of sixteen. Finally though, she found some novels that captured her interest and developed a love of reading which is now one of her favourite hobbies.

Mia began with poems before moving on to short stories. Although she enjoyed this, Mia found she had too much to tell with too little space, so later on she created her first series 'The Wanderer Trilogy' and from there other ideas have emerged. With a total of nine books planned at this moment, she is busy working on her second series 'Elemental Killers' before moving onto the next idea on her ever growing list.

Review: Lost Seraphine by KaSonndra Leigh

Title: Lost Seraphine
Author: KaSonndra Leigh
Series: Book Two in the Seraphine Trilogy
Published By: Trigate Press (November 24, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating: 3 Stars!

Book Description:
Caleb Wood now knows the Dark Seraphine's true identity. 

Life should be a little more sane now, right? Wrong! It’s kind of hard to ignore the walkers, fallen souls taken by the Angel of Chaos. Oh yeah, only Caleb can see them.

After saving his girlfriend from the wrath of a sea witch, Caleb finds himself faced with a new problem…understanding the strange tattoos showing up on his body. He must also deal with his Lost Seraphine, the girl who left her family behind to save the boy she loves. The same girl who just happens to be the daughter of a mythological god. 

Gia gave up one of her powers to be with Caleb. She knew that she was connected to the Dark Seraphine in some way. You see, there’s a prophecy, something she always believed to be a fairy tale linking her with the girl who also wants Caleb. Haunted by visions of her dead brother, Gia realizes she has made a terrible mistake. The ability she gave up is the one thing she will need to keep her boyfriend safe. 

Will Caleb be able to accept the things he will learn about his real father while trying to save the girl he loves from herself? Book Two of the Seraphine Trilogy and prequel to the Lost Immortals Saga is coming soon.

My Thoughts and Review:
I really enjoyed the first book in the series even though Caleb's voice is a little hard to get use to at first. He is immature at times and being only a seventeen year old boy, acts his age, sometimes even less so.

He is funny, caring and truly does have a heart of gold and good intentions. With Gia being in his life and all the challenges that came with that, he really has grown up a lot from the first book. 

There is a lot that goes on in this second installment, a lot of discoveries, betrayal and hardships but one thing remains the same, Caleb and Gia's bond, respect for one another and their love. 


I don't want to get into too many details but this was a nice addition to the trilogy and with all that happens, doesn't happen and all that took place, it will be interesting to see where the author not only takes Caleb and Gia's relationship but how she deals with the prophecy and the outcome of all that Caleb and Gia hold dear. This was an enjoyable middle book that I think fans of the series will really like. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Title: The Promise of Amazing
Author: Robin Constantine
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Balzer + Bray (December 31, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

Book Description:
Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how. 

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.

*Amazon*Barnes and Noble*

My Thoughts and Review:
I had high expectations going into this one, I don't know if it was the adorable cover or that title, I mean how can you go wrong with a title like that?  Or maybe it was the cute alluring description or the simple fact that I heard others talking about it so highly, but either way, there you have it. I was expecting something spectacular, something that stood apart from the others.

I tried not to have such expectations, I promise I really did but..I did nonetheless. And once you do have those expectations, it is really hard going into the read not expecting greatness, no matter how hard you try. 

 I liked this one but I didn't absolutely love it like I was really hoping I would. In fact I had a really hard time liking Grayson at first. Don't get me wrong, he had some redeeming qualities and he wasn't all bad, he just wasn't all good either. By the end of the story I did care more about him and the little bugger started to grow on me, bad actions and all. What he felt for Wren won me over. I think if the author hadn't done this one in dual point of views, I would have ended up hating the guy but getting that inner look into what he was thinking and really feeling, the fact that you could see that he really wanted to be a good person, really helped redeem him in the end. 

None of the characters in this story are perfect and that is okay, that makes it work, that is what makes this a very realistic read , one that I think any young person could relate to. 

Wren was a different matter, I liked her from the beginning. I really admired that she wasn't willing to change for anyone, instead, she was willing to change for herself. To become the sort of person she wanted to be. The sort of person that stood up for herself and wasn't meek and timid. 

This was a  really well put together story about two teenagers trying to find their way in life. With love, family, friends and with school. Two people struggling to find where they fit into the world around them and what they want out of life and regardless of whether I connected with the characters or not, I am always a sucker for those kind of stories. And this story was nicely done, very realistic in the author's approach of bringing Wren and Grayson together, the struggles that they were going through on their own and their struggles together as a couple as they both tried to navigate all the feelings and drama of first love and coming into their own. And really, I have to give props to the author for that. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: The Curse Keepers by Denise Grover Swank

Title: The Curse Keepers

Author: Denise Grover Swank

Series: Book One in the Curse Keepers

Published By: 47North (November 19, 2013)

Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Tour Organizer (and Netgalley)

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Book Description:

The wall between our world and that of vengeful spirits has protected humanity for more than 400 years. It’s about to come crashing down.

Ellie Lancaster has lived her whole life by the site of the mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke, the Virginia settlement that vanished without a trace around 1590. Only the descendants of the two men who banished the spirits of an enemy tribe from the material realm know what really happened to the colony. Ellie is one of those descendants—a Curse Keeper. Her father took pains to teach her what he knew of the curse and the responsibilities of its guardians. He taught her that if the two Curse Keepers ever meet, the curse will be lifted, the gate will open, and the raging Native American spirits will be unleashed to seek their revenge.

Despite her father’s seriousness, Ellie has always taken the legend for a harmless fairy tale. Until she meets the darkly handsome, but downright infuriating, Collin Dailey and realizes everything she was told is true. For when they meet, it’s like the air is sucked from the room. Collin’s presence is electrifying… and it’s not just attraction Ellie feels, but the inexorable pull toward her destiny. The prophecy is real, and now Ellie and Collin must battle supernatural forces and their loathing—and passion—for each other to set things right.

The Curse Keepers are all that stand between the world and its destruction.

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My Thoughts and Review:

I really liked Ms. Swank's writing style after reading her NA Contemporary Series Off the Subject and when I saw that she was writing a whole new series in a  genre I already love, I just knew I needed to try it. 

I am so glad I did because this truly was unique and let's face it, that is getting harder and harder to come by these days in any genre.

Not only did this have a great action packed story line but it had enough sexual tension between the two main characters (the Curse Keepers Collin and Ellie) to get your heart racing and your blood pumping. Throw in a little history about the lost Colony of Roanoke, some paranormal activity of ancient spirits and gods, and an ancient curse  and Ms. Swank really did create a different kind of read that stands out in the genre.

I liked hard working tough girl Ellie from the very beginning, she knows that she wants out of life and she goes after it. Cocky arrogant Collin on the other hand, I had to warm up to. But it wasn't long before I saw underneath his cocky bad boy image and saw that he really was a good guy just doing some really bad things. 

This was a great beginning to what promises to be an action packed, unique series filled with history as well as lies, betrayal and a steam tension filled romance, that I think any lover of Urban Fantasy will really enjoy. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author, publisher or tour organizer. I was not compensated for this review.*