Saturday, May 31, 2014

Review: Moonless by Crystal Collier

Title: Moonless
Author: Crystal Collier
Series: Book One in the Maiden of Time Series
Published By: Raybourne Publishing (Jan. 14, 2014)
Source: Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 3.5 to 4 Stars!

Book Description:
MOONLESS is Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

In the English society of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially later when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of the night. 

Among the many things to change for her that evening are: her physical appearance—from ghastly to breathtaking, an epidemic of night terrors predicting the future, and the blue-eyed man’s unexpected infusion into her life. Not only do his appearances precede tragedies, but they are echoed by the arrival of ravenous, black-robed wraiths on moonless nights.

Unable to decide whether he is one of these monsters or protecting her from them, she uncovers what her father has been concealing: truths about her own identity, about the blue-eyed man, and about love. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with the man of her dreams and risk becoming one of the Soulless.








I picked this one up on a whim. I really liked the cover and the description grabbed me right from the start and lets face it, I am a sucker for anything set in the 18th century and I won't lie, the reference to Jane Eyre was one that piqued my interest, it so happens to be one of my favorite stories by Bronte and even though I wouldn't say this was anything like the plot of Jane, it did have the same feel as Jane. That almost gothic darkness that makes you simultaneously feel somewhat dark and moody and just a little bit broody while still immersing you in a beautiful world. 

And just like a good Bronte read, this moved slowly with lots of setting and descriptive writing. I loved the atmospheric setting and the characters were intriguing. The author set this up so we get small glimpses into both Alexia and Kiren's point of view and just enough of a hint at what was going on with them that it left you begging for more. In fact it could be frustrating at times. I wanted it all and I wanted it all right this minute.

Even with the slow sometimes frustrating start and world building when this did decide to pick up the pace I found myself unable to put it down and completely immersed in the story. 

By the time the last chapter was in front of me I found that I was really enjoying the story and didn't want it to end. 

The author has a way of capturing your attention without you even being aware she has until before you know it the story is over and you are completely surprised it is. 

I will definitely be picking up book two to see how the story continues.




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

Friday, May 30, 2014

Review: Wicked Games by Sean Olin

Title: Wicked Games
Author: Sean Olin
Series: Book One in the Wicked Game Series
Published By: HarperTeen (June 10, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Thriller
My rating: 2.5-3 Stars

Book Description:
Tainted love. Sexy secrets. A chilling revenge plot. It's all here in Wicked Games by Sean Olin, the first in a psychologically charged, suspenseful series set in a picturesque coastal Florida town called Dream Point, where dangerous mind games are played with abandon.

Lilah has spent the last four years by her boyfriend Carter's side, and everyone thinks their relationship is rock solid. But behind closed doors, things are beginning to crumble. Just as Lilah's intensifying mood swings are making Carter think about distancing himself from her, another girl enters the picture. Jules is beautiful, funny, smart, and artistic. Carter can't help but fall under her spell. But one stolen night of passion has consequences they could never imagine.









Let me start by saying that the synopsis for this one really doesn't prepare you for this book. It is very mild compared to what you actually get, which is one girl who is severely disturbed and needs help. One girl who plans on taking revenge to all the people (or one very specific person) she feels has wronged her and doing it by any means imaginable.

I normally love third person layouts in books but once in a great while I will come across one that just doesn't work and sadly, this one just didn't work for me. Instead of being intrigued that I got the views of all those involved, it ended up feeling chaotic and therefore made me feel very disconnected to the story and its characters. It left the chapters feeling disjointed and sometimes even somewhat hard to follow.

What this does, however, have going for it is that the actual premises of the story is pretty out there. Is pretty intriguing and so against your better judgment, you can't help but read on and want to know more.

You can't help being both fascinated and terrified at how crazy and unstable Lilah gets as the story progresses.

I was all set out to feel for Lilah and her circumstance, after all, cheating is never justified and yet, and yet, the author had me rethinking that..to an extent. In fact, I felt more for Carter and Jules than anyone else, at least in the beginning. By the end, honestly, I really didn't know what to think. A nice surprising twist yes, which I did love but also disturbing and so out of the blue that I couldn't help but laugh and the irony of it all. 






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

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Review: Vivian Divine is Dead by Lauren Sabel

Title: Vivian Divine is Dead
Author: Lauren Sabel
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: HarperTeen (June 3, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Mystery
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
In this fast-paced adventure set in Mexico, teen celebrity Vivian Divine goes on the run after receiving a death threat, and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her charmed life—and the boy she loves—is a lie.











This isn't one of those books that you go into expecting an in depth look into the characters or a heart felt read or anything even truly mind blowing, instead it gives you exactly what most books should, an escape from reality for however long it takes you to finish it.

This is a hard book to review. The writing was fabulous in some aspects and lacked in others. The plot was wild and out there but still maintained some originality which, lets face it, is becoming harder and harder to find in the world of YA. Yet where it excelled in originality is failed in reality. 

At times this seemed so far out there that it was completely unbelievable and I felt like rolling my eyes and yet, it still kept me turning the pages because I couldn't help but be fascinated as each new twist took on an even wilder and crazier one than the last. 

Overall I would say this was a crazy ride that while laughable was still very much hard to put down.




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

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Mini Review: Not Until Tonight by Jessica Sankiewicz

Title: Not Until Tonight
Author: Jessica Sankiewicz
Series: First Novella in the This Night Series
Published: May 26, 2014
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
Every day after work, Haley goes to the bar across the street from her apartment to get a drink. It's the only time she gets to see Skylar, her bartender and crush. She would like to get to know him as more than a friend but she's afraid he won't be interested and she'll have to go elsewhere for her after work drink.

When Skylar asks Haley to pretend to be his girlfriend for a night, she is more than happy to oblige. She finally has the chance to make something happen without risking anything. But pretending proves to be more difficult than she thought. She's not sure she can resist the pull any longer with her feelings growing stronger, and it seems like Skylar is feeling the same way.

At the end of the night, will they be willing to turn a fake relationship into a real one?





If there is one thing I have come to expect from Jessica's writing it is that I just know I will get an incredibly sweet and endearing read whether that read is in novel form or a short story, it will be well written and lovable.

Even though this was a short story it was packed with a whole lot of punch. So much so that I fell in love with the characters and cared about them before I was even half way through the story. I was rooting for them the whole way through. 

Jessica managed to deliver so much in such a little story, this was well written, well executed and believe it or not, the perfect length. 



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

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Review: Don't You Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

Title: Don't You Forget About Me
Author: Kate Karyus Quinn
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Harper Teen (June 10, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
Welcome to Gardnerville.

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.







I wanted something different, something out there and so I picked this one up. With a premises like this one, how could I not be in for one wild crazy ride?

This book delivered that is for sure. I don't even know where to begin to describe the sheer unusual-ness of this read. The characters and their bizarre fourth year behavior. The messed up town, The Reformatory, the pills...I could go on and on but I won't Instead, I will say this, if you are tired of all the sameness out there in this genre, this is a read you don't want to miss.

It will give you the strange, the unusual and the bizarre, it will make your mind whirl with all the possibilities and with exactly WTF is going on feeling.

You know those stories that are so different, so unique that you just don't even know what to think about them? That long after you have put the book down your mind is still reeling and it is hard to forget it? And writing a review is almost impossible because where do you begin, what do you say without ruining anything or giving too much away?

This is one of the stories. 

I have to warn you, I don't think this book, this read, will be for everyone. It is just so....different and complicated and filled with so much that is not normal that some are going to down right hate it while others won't care for it at all. And then, others will probably love it and think it one of a kind. 

So, which category do I fall under? Even after putting the book down for over 24 hours before trying to write this review, I am still not sure.

I applaud the uniqueness and the whole crazy messed up concept because I asked for a ride and a ride I did get, but, did I love it? I still don't know. 

And the sad thing is, I can't even tell you why or why not because it would ruin the whole story. I don't think there is a lot I can tell about it without giving something away. 

Gardnervill is a town like no other. Where no one gets sick but lots of people die...at the hands of others. You see, every four years (the fourth year) the towns people (usually the youth) go crazy. Something afflicts them and people are lead to their death. Some go crazy, some have strange new abilities that set those around them on fire, some, like Piper, Skylar's sister, have the strange ability to coerce others to do exactly what they want, even if that means their death.

People come to Gardnerville to survive, to be healed from their afflictions, but is the strange town with it's dangerous fourth year worth it? 

This really truly has all the makings for a really great horror flick even though the book itself wasn't frightening or scary in the least. 

Even though I still can't settle on my feelings for this one, I will say that it gave me exactly what I wanted at the time. Something unlike anything else I have ever read. Something that kept me guessing and scratching my head until the very end. 






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

Monday, May 26, 2014

Release Day Blitz and Giveaway: Not Until Tonight by Jessica Sankiewicz


Welcome to the Not Until Tonight by Jessica Sankiewicz release day blitz!
~♡~

Title: Not Until Tonight Author: Jessica Sankiewicz Series: This Night Novella Genre: New Adult Contemporary Release Date: May 26th 2014 Add to your Goodreads shelf Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
Every day after work, Haley goes to the bar across the street from her apartment to get a drink. It's the only time she gets to see Skylar, her bartender and crush. She would like to get to know him as more than a friend but she's afraid he won't be interested and she'll have to go elsewhere for her after work drink. When Skylar asks Haley to pretend to be his girlfriend for a night, she is more than happy to oblige. She finally has the chance to make something happen without risking anything. But pretending proves to be more difficult than she thought. She's not sure she can resist the pull any longer with her feelings growing stronger, and it seems like Skylar is feeling the same way. At the end of the night, will they be willing to turn a fake relationship into a real one?
~♡~
About the author


Jessica Sankiewicz is the author of the New Adult novella series, This Night. You can often find her either reading or marathon watching TV on DVD, her favorites being Castle and Veronica Mars. She frequently mismatches her clothes and giggles uncontrollably. She knows almost every Billy Joel song by heart. She collects books and toys, and she has an intense love of cats and lemurs. Jessica decided when she turned 27 that she would remain 27 forever. Currently in the midst of her quarter-life-crisis, she is still takin' names and getting very close to reaching an epiphany.
Follow Jessica on
~♡~
Excerpt
“Speaking of which, what was that all about? he asks me.
I think...I think he was just trying to present a solution to your problem.” A solution to both the problems at hand.
Yeah, probably. He half smiles. I'm just sorry he had to go and put you on the spot like that.
Oh, that was no biggie. I just happened to be the closest girl to the conversation. More like, the closest girl intentionally put on the spot to begin with. I wave it off. Besides, I would be fine with helping you out of a jam.
Something changes in his eyes at hearing this. “You would?
Of course. We're friends. I pop a fry in my mouth and smile.
He stares curiously at me. Are you saying you would help me?
Yeah, I would. I look back down at my fries and pick up another.
With this?
My head snaps up. Wait...what are you thinking?
He touches a finger to his lips. Maybe...just maybe...Tyler could be on to something.
And what would that be?
He steps forward and takes my free hand in his. “Pretend to be my girlfriend, Haley.”
~♡~
Giveaway


THREE WINNERS
ONE Prize pack: Notebook, Chocolate, Book Swag, and an E-book copy of Not Until Tonight
TWO signed postcards
~Open Internationally~
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~♡~

Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Sunday Post



The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It is a chance to share our weekly blog news and book haul. 

The count down to summer begins! Okay, so it already started awhile ago (read here beginning of May) but now we really are almost there and there is excitement in the air. My girls are excited, I am excited, heck, I think our dogs are even excited (okay maybe not, maybe they just love everything but I like to think they know what is going on). 

I don't know about you but I am preparing my summer must read list. Those books that I have been saving up to read just for summer because I just know they are going to be the perfect summer reads. 

Look out everyone, there will be lots of romance in my future so be prepared for all the girly reviews and books. I just can't help myself, there is something that screams love to be about this time of year. 

So what are you most looking forward to with the warmer weather just right around the corner?


This past week on the blog here is what I featured in case you missed anything:







Next Week on the blog I will be featuring the following:

Review: Vivian Divine is Dead by Lauren Sabel

Review: Don't You Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn 

Review: Wicked Games by Sean Olin



I have been so busy this week I haven't even planned all my posts out yet so..I'll surprise you with the rest of the week. I feel so behind though, I usually have a good two to three weeks of posts scheduled at a time and yeah, with being two weeks ago and then my daughter being sick, I am so behind in almost all of my posts. *sigh* I'll catch up though...at least I hope so.


My Book Haul:


I always go into the weeks thinking I am going to be a good girl and not request any books or say yes to any reviews or blog tours and sadly, that hardly ever happens. *sigh* I can never resist. 

But I am always happy to get the books I do because for the most part, I always love them and I can't help getting excited about them. It sometimes feels like Christmas, especially when you get one you have been waiting for and dying to read.

As always, a huge thank you to the authors and publishers for sending me these!










Saturday, May 24, 2014

Review: Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

Title: Take Back the Skies
Author: Lucy Saxon
Series: Book One in the Take Back the Skies Series
Published By: Bloomsbury Children's (June 3, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 3 Stars


Book Description:
Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .






This is one of those stories that has so much potential and so much promise. One where the world is just as much fascinating as it is confusing. 

It is steampunk and fantasy and almost dystopian with an old world/modern feel to it all rolled into one. Almost as if the author liked them all and just couldn't quite decide which genre to write in. 

The world was fascinating where the rich are highly separated from the poor and underprivileged. Where ships sail the sky and droids serve households. Yet we can't help but feel this is set in a time long ago and we still get that steampunkish feel with automatons and crazy mechanical inventions around every corner.


We know the world has suffered because of a war, where the youth are being stolen from their homes all in the name of the government and peace. We can feel the desolation and heartbreak of it's people as their youth are lost to them forever. What we don't realize until later on is that something so much more sinister than we ever could imagine is really happening to the world that Cat is a part of, something that hits close to home.

I admit, this book had me pretty interested. It was fast paced and filled with wonder and adventure. Even though the world Cat lived in was never really explained or defined I still found myself okay with it because I wanted to learn more about it and it's people. 

What had me a little lost and confused was the ending. I couldn't fathom why it ended the way it did, with so little explained of the after effects of Cat and Fox' adventure. It seemed rushed and hurried like it just needed to be over and done with and that left me feeling like I had missed something, something crucial, something important to the story. 

Lets talk about that ending. I loved this read up until that ending. It fell so flat for me. It was so sad, so hopeless feeling. I couldn't help but be disappointed with it. It changed the whole way I felt about that book. I realize there will be a sequel, which is a good thing but I have no idea where the author will take it. The ending was pretty bleak and not open so much as just depressing. I felt like she settled for less than she wanted, less than she needed. 

I think if this does turn into a series, it has hope, it has potential as does the author's writing because this really did have the potential to be something great but sadly, in the end, it fell a little flat for me. I loved this until that ending, it was so...sad and just changed the whole theme of the story for me. I am hoping book two will be way better. 





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

Friday, May 23, 2014

Review: 17 First Kisses by Rachel Allen

Title: 17 First Kisses
Author: Rachel Allen
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: HarperTeen (June 17, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
No matter how many boys Claire kisses, she can’t seem to find a decent boyfriend. Someone who wouldn’t rather date her gorgeous best friend, Megan. Someone who won’t freak out when he learns about the tragedy her family still hasn’t recovered from. Someone whose kisses can carry her away from her backwoods town for one fleeting moment.

Until Claire meets Luke.

But Megan is falling for Luke, too, and if there’s one thing Claire knows for sure, it’s that Megan’s pretty much irresistible.

With true love and best friendship on the line, Claire suddenly has everything to lose. And what she learns—about her crush, her friends, and most of all herself—makes the choices even harder.

In her moving debut, Rachael Allen brilliantly captures the complexities of friendship, the struggles of self-discovery, and the difficulties of trying to find love in high school. Fans of Sarah Ockler, Susane Colasanti, and Stephanie Perkins will fall head over heels for this addictive, heartfelt, and often hilarious modern love story.









I saw someone else mentioned that this is like a com-rom for the YA age group and I have to agree, it is very much that while also holding very true to a very endearing coming of age story that we have all grown to know and love over the course of the YA genre in general. 

This holds true to popular YA tropes while still giving it a fun enough twist with detailing all of Claire’s past kisses and failed romances to make it something that is worth the time and effort of reading it.

Be warned, there are mean girls and frenemies and bad boys and good boys (thankfully no real love triangle), drama and some angst and yes, lots and lots of kissing, there is even some skirting around of very serious topics (abuse and death). You might not even like the main character Claire during certain parts in the book and you will certainly love to hate Megan during most of it but yet, it still draws you into their friendship and story and still makes a teeny tiny small part of you root for them anyways.

I can't explain it exactly but it does.

Now on to the harder stuff. Did I love this? Did it blow me away and most importantly, would I really put it into the same category as Dessen, Ockler, Perkins and Colasanti's work like the synopsis suggests? 

To answer, no, no and absolutely not. If you go into this expecting something from them, something like them, you will be disappointed, but, that doesn’t mean this wasn't a good read, maybe even a solid read, it just means I personally, wouldn't put it into the same category as some of my favorites. Certainly not.

But this was a good debut novel with some hard life lessons. Some lessons about forgiveness, friendship over love and about growing up and finding who you are and staying true to it.





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

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Review: #scandal by Sarah Ockler

Title: #scandal
Author: Sarah Ockler
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Simon Pulse (June 17, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 3 Stars

Book Description:
Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation. 

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love...







I love Ockler's writing. Her stories are always so endearing and her character even more so. They are made of the stuff I love. And while this one had a very different feels from her usual reads, I still enjoyed the heck out of this one.

These are the coming of age stories you wouldn't mind your preteen or teen reading. Ones that are heartfelt and true and hold so much meaning and so much growing. 

The authors take on social media and high school life, I think, is in fact very realistic. It seems so much can be done, so much can be shown, ruined, and destroyed with the click of a button, an upload, or a very few choice words. 

Lucy is a great girl, she is a hard core, knock your socks of gamer and she loves her zombies, she also happens to love Cole and her best friend. What she doesn't love is the fact that the love of her life Cole, happens to be with that same best friend. 

When she finally sees her chance to go for it with him is when it all falls apart. It is when a picture really is worth a thousand words and she learns that life and her peers can be cruel and hard and unforgiving.

I wish I could say the romance was a focus in this story, and while the scandal was, Cole was not. In fact we see very little of him but what we do see, we can't help but love. We can understand why Lucy wants him and why she would risk it all to be with him. 

Like I mentioned above, this is a lot different than most Ockler books, there is a lot going on, a scandal, a mystery, some romance, a friendship on the brink of breaking up, and some serious detective work underway. It is a lot to take in and a lot to process. It isn't chaotic so much as instead of focusing on Lucy's love of Cole and her friendship with Emily, this steers more towards social media and hunting down the person that stole Lucy's phone and posted the pictures to begin with, the person who wants to sabotage everything she has.

It was nice watching Lucy come out of her comfort zone without changing who she was. She stays strong to what she believes and to what she thinks is right. There are a lot of subtle messages that, if you aren't paying attention, you just might miss. Good messages about staying true to yourself and going after what you want in life without causing those around you harm. 

This was a fun take on the affects of social media in the lives of our younger generation and of course, a good coming of age story. Maybe not a favorite but still a really good one that I think most fans will still really enjoy. 




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