5 Reviews: The Elemental Series by Brigid Kemmerer (Mini reviews)

Elemental (Elemental #0.5)

by Brigid Kemmerer

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they are more than you dream.
As an air Elemental, 17-year-old Emily Morgan doesn’t have much power. That’s okay—she knows what happens to kids who do.

Like Michael Merrick. He’s an earth Elemental, one with enough power to level cities. Which makes him sexy. Dangerous. And completely off limits. At least according to Emily’s family.

But her summer job puts her in close contact with Michael, and neither of them can help the attraction they feel. When forces of nature like theirs collide, one misstep could get someone killed. Because Emily’s family doesn’t just want her to stay away from him.

They want him dead.

My Review:

I thought it best to start from the very beginning. And even though this novella came after the first book, i still found myself starting from this.

Elemental gives us a background idea of what the book is going to be about. Hell, what the series is going to be about. Michael is the older brother of the Merrick clan and we come to understand the hardships he faces because of his powers. The book ends by just giving us an idea of what more can possibly come. And sort of come to accept Michael’s character.

I wanted to read more about him. Honestly, i was quite smitten.

Book #5 is Michael’s book!

Storm (Elemental #1)

by Brigid Kemmerer

Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys all the ones she doesn’t want. Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her. 

Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming.

My Review:

LOVED it! I really do think that the Elemental series is a great fun read. Just to relax and lounge around. It gets your mind of life and diverted onto the Merrick brothers. Chris was no exception.

The story switched between Becca and Chris, giving us differing points of view and sometimes i really did feel like smacking Becca on the head for some stupid decisions she was making coughHuntercough. But the way Chris was overprotective of Becca and his dialogue was just amazing. *sigh*

Fearless (Elemental #1.5)

by Brigid Kemmerer

Being a force of nature doesn’ t keep you safe.Hunter Garrity is used to watching his back. The kids at school sense something different about him. And they re right.

Hunter has powers that have nothing to do with how hard he can throw a punch.

Maybe that s what Clare Kasten is picking up. She s shy, quiet, and intense, but she s sought him out. There s no telling what she wants from him.

But Hunter knows enough to sense a secret when it s close. And getting close to Clare is a danger he s ready to face.

My Review:

I don’t like Hunter. There, I said it. I didn’t like him from the very first appearance that he made in Storm. Something was off about him from the very beginning. Not to mention he was interfering with Becca and Chris. Seriously, that was when i started to really dislike him.

So, i must admit, as i read this book…i was a bit biased. Sorry. And quickly finished through this novella. BUT i do want to know just why he does what he does. I mean, we sort of know but still. A little more insight would be nice. Plus, wherever he is so are the Merrick boys. So, why wouldn’t i want to read more about them?

Spirit (Elemental #3) is Hunter’s book! Who knows, maybe i start liking him?

Spark (Elemental #2)

by Brigid Kemmerer

Gabriel Merrick plays with fire. Literally. Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Gabriel has always had his 

brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it. And no one seems to believe him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off balance. Because Layne has a few secrets of her own…

My Review:

Woah! Gabriel was just as hot as his element. And his love interest was just perfect for him. He was fiery and just a pleasure to read. I had so much fun with this book and Kemmerer did an amazing job with it.

I found myself reading it into the wee hours of the night and couldn’t bring myself to sleep until i was completely finished with it.

Gabriel really cares about his family, so don’t let his hard exterior fool you. Hunter, however on the other hand, i still didn’t understand his motives in this one. He just seemed too pushy for some reason.

Breathless (Elemental #2.5)

by Brigid Kemmerer

Too many secrets. Not enough time.

Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic.

But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive.

His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark.

He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace.

My Review:

Honestly, that was quite a shocker!

Having finished Spark, i wanted to immediately read Breathless and when i found it on Netgalley i immediately requested it. What i didn’t imagine was that Nick would turn out to be gay. I was actually hoping for some insight into the difficult relationship he might be having with Quinn. Hahaha i just didn’t see that one coming. Kemmerer really gave us quite a surprise or maybe just me because i clearly didn’t read the signs. Were there any signs? But, whatever rocks your boat Nick. Now what i want to see is what happens when his brothers find out.

Siege (Elemental #4) is officially Nick’s book!

Review: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Title: The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

Author: Jessica Sorensen

Source: ebook

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.

Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.

For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in the right place at the right time and saves him.

Now he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw at school, but never really knew. When he ends up at the same college as Callie, he does everything he can to try to get to know her. But Callie is reserved and closed off. The more he tries to be part of her life, the more he realizes Callie might need to be saved.

 

My Review:

o.O What kind of ending was that?!

You go into a book, hearing the most amazing things about it but you also find out that the ending will leave you upset. I was apprehensive about finishing the book because i was afraid of the ending, even though i knew nothing.
I was not satisfied with the ending. Left too much yet too little unsaid.

Will it make me sounds sadist if i said i enjoyed reading about dysfunctional characters? Because i do enjoy it. I don’t know, it just makes the story feel more alive and real.

Callie and Kayden were one of the most dysfunctional characters i have read about and when they were together it was just one perfect love story. A dysfunctional love story. There were many underlying pressures and secrets that made them perfect for one another. Jessica Sorensen created this wonderful, heart wrenching, breathtaking, punch-you-in-the-gut-with-every-word story.

Both Callie and Kayden have multiple skeletons in their closets but when they are together they can bury them one by one. With the help of one another, they open up (some-what) and find love and comfort in one another.

I shuddered at what Callie went through and was equally scared for her. The journal musings and internal monologue was by far the best because Sorensen was able to give her a voice that brought out the turmoil and conflict within her, that made her a character to root for from the very beginning.
Kayden had multiple scars, all with separate meanings and messages behind them. He was breaking from the inside but never let anyone see it. His strength and difficult life made for a character that the reader almost immediately starts to support. You want to see him grow and make a stand. Something Callie convinces him to do.

Just go read the book. It’ll blow your mind. I started reading this last night and couldn’t stop till it was finally finished and i hadn’t slept at all. Honestly, it was like a drug. I just couldn’t stop reading!

 

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Double Review: Pushing the Limits and Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

Source: ebook

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; young adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Title: Dare You To

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

Source: ebook – netgalley

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; young adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. “Dance with me, Beth.”

“No.” I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again….

“I dare you…”

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk’s home life, they’d send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom’s freedom and her own happiness. That’s how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn’t want her and going to a school that doesn’t understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn’t get her, but does….

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can’t tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn’t be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won’t let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all….

My Review:

In all honesty…i liked Dare You To better. I’m sorry. I loved Pushing the Limits too, but Dare You To was by far my favourite! In fact I stopped reading Pushing the Limits so that i could read Dare You To.

Katie McGarry formulated stories around slightly dysfunctional true-to-life characters who just needed someone to be there for them in their life. You can’t help but fall in love with them. Why? Read the previous sentence.

I loved Noah…but i LOVED Ryan more. Beth was just a breath of fresh to read. I wanted to see her strong character put to test in such a way that her vulnerabilities came to light and she found that she could cling to someone for help. Ryan.

Echo is such a cool name! Plus i loved the small Greek Mythology aspect in the book. BUT how could someone do something like that? I was dumbfounded and a little scared. Still, that is exactly what i loved about it. The fact that Katie McGarry could make me reveal such emotions. I tend to get emotionally involved with these characters. Flaws and all. She was strong and broken at the same time. You tend to have her back from the very beginning. She is looking for answers that she already has, searching for herself.

“Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls.” - Pushing the Limits

 

Her dialogue made her out to be a very lovable character and made you laugh out loud and cry at the same time within the span of mere seconds.

“I hold the bottle out into the rain and watch as the steady flow slowly fills it. When there is enough, enough that Beth can clearly see, I close the bottle and hand it to her.

She raises a skeptical eyebrow, but accepts the bottle.

“It’s our rain Beth.”

Her head barely shakes to show her confusion while I rub the back of my neck and search for my courage. “I told you I loved you in this rain and when you doubt my words, I want you to look at this bottle.” - Dare You To

I feel that whatever i say won’t do justice to these two books. So, i suggest that you grab a copy and see for yourself, what left me speechless by the end. Can’t wait for Isaiah’s book! I know that one is going to be EPIC!

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Review: Unbroken by Melody Grace

Title: Unbroken

Author: Melody Grace

Publisher:  self-published

Source: ebook – author

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

“Mom always told me there are two kinds of love in this world: the steady breeze, and the hurricane. Emerson Ray was my hurricane….”

Juliet McKenzie was an innocent eighteen-year old when she spent the summer in Cedar Cove—and fell head over heels in love with Emerson. Complicated, intense Emerson, the local bad boy. His blue eyes hid dark secrets, and just one touch could set Juliet ablaze. Their love was demanding and all-consuming, but when summer ended, tragedy tore them apart. Juliet swore she’d never go back, and she’s kept that promise… Until now.

Four years later, Juliet’s done her best to rebuild the wreckage of her shattered life. She’s got a great boyfriend, and a steady job planned after she graduates. Returning to Cedar Cove to pack up her family’s beach house to prepare it for sale, Juliet is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her future. But one look from Emerson, and all her old desire comes flooding back. He let her go once, but this time, he’s not giving up without a fight. And Emerson fights dirty.

A heartbreaking history. An unstoppable passion. Torn between her past and future, Juliet struggles to separate love from desire. But will they find a way to overcome their tragic secrets—together? And after so much damage has been done, can a love remain unbroken? 

*This book contains adult situations and explicit content.*

 

My Review:

Wow! I think the 5 stars say it all.

I don’t think I get enough of the New Adult genre. Every book i read seems to just blow my mind. Unbroken was no exception!

“You’re mine,” he says again fiercely. “Not his, not anyone else’s. You can try and pretend you don’t feel it, but you do. You’ll always be mine.”

Melody Grace really did an amazing job with this novel. The characters went through challenges and situations that left me on the edge of my seat wondering what the repercussions would be. But i don’t know why i thought that maybe Emerson was a very angry person, relationship-wise. I mean life had dealt him far too much, taking away his anchor at the same time, but somehow the relationship seemed off at some points.

Emerson and Juliet had such a real feel to them that you couldn’t help but fall for their story. Even before the whole tragedy was revealed, i desperately wanted to know just exactly drove these two apart. Especially, since their love story was so breathtaking and beautiful. When i did find out, as the book was ending, i was shocked. But at the same time a part of me, understood why Emerson did what he did.

But i don’t know why i thought that maybe Emerson was a very angry person, relationship-wise. I mean life had dealt him far too much, taking away his anchor at the same time, but somehow the relationship seemed off at some points.

“Mom always told me there are two kinds of love in this world: the steady breeze, and the hurricane.”

Perhaps, that is what made it seem so real in the first place. There were times when i even feared Emerson’s bouts of anger. Afraid that he might end up doing something he might regret, but then again Juliet was the only one he ever loved and he would never hurt her.

The open-ending of the book left for much to be answered. Not big things, just what exactly happened…after you know what (not spoiling anything, you should definitely read it).

I’m so glad i had a chance to read and review this book!

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Review: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Title: Something Like Normal

Author: Trish Doller

Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Source: ebook

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; young adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

My Review:

“Maybe it’s time to find a new normal.”

When i initially heard about this novel, i was craving a good army-related book. Something young adult but at the same time army-related. And this book couldn’t have fit more perfectly what i was looking for.

I flipped page after page, not a care in the world. I hung to every word that Trish Doller had written was the story was just that much captivating. It enveloped me in this bubble of reality where the characters just spoke out to you and were just too real.

Travis comes back from Afghanistan only to find that nothing will ever be the same. He is struggling on his own because of what happened and trying to find normalcy in a family that never seemed normal to him before.

While the book had more than its fair share of serious issues, there were moments where you just smiled and laughed. Enjoying the book because it hit you to your core.

Travis’s father i just could not stand and neither could i stand his ex-girlfriend. His mother on the other hand was amazing! The way she supported him and tried to keep the family tethered to one another was intensely emotional.

A FABULOUS contemporary debut novel. You will want to read this one.

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Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; young adult

Source: hardcover – bought

My Rating:  X infinity

Synopsis (goodreads):

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

My Review:

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

Okay.

I got to The Fault in Our Stars after a long time. Mainly because it was sold out for the longest time and then once i bought it, i got side tracked with everything else. Before even starting this book i had heard the most amazing things about it and read loads of rave reviews which sort of made up my mind to not read it, because i was afraid it would not live up to the standards set. But then i read it. Half of it. I couldn’t find myself to continue because i had already guessed the ending and well i was so emotionally attached to the characters that i just didn’t want my suspicions to be proven right. 2 weeks later when i prepared myself to finish it…it was over in a day. Because i could not put the book down.

Readers beware. Those of you who haven’t read the book have no idea what you’re missing. BUT when you do get down to reading it keep a box of tissues with you. The water works just don’t stop. My mother found me crying when i was reading and she asked me what was wrong. I told her and she just rolled her eyes and left the room. I plan to make sure she too reads the book. I just couldn’t stop crying. Everything brought me to tears and no book has been able to that to me. EVER.

“That’s the thing about pain…it demands to be felt.”

Green couldn’t have summed it up better even if he tried. “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

Hazel and Augustus had this chemistry that i can’t quite seem to describe. Green did an amazing job portraying it! It was so real. Both characters just  fit together perfectly, that you were rooting for them from the very beginning. It came so easily to them, almost like breathing. And while the ending was sad and tragic. It was just the right amount of breathtaking and heartbreaking all wrapped in a box, tied up with a string. ‘The one legged virgin’ totally stole my heart.

I wish i could meet John Green and tell him what a masterpiece he has written. Just amazing!

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“Waiting On” Wednesday #46

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s pre-publication “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Earthbound

by Aprilynne Pike

Love, fate, and power collide in this new series by #1 New York Timesbestselling author Aprilynne Pike!

Tavia Michaels is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed her parents. When she starts to see strange visions of a boy she’s never spoken with in real life, she begins to suspect that there’s much about her past that she isn’t being told. Tavia will soon to discover that she’s an Earthbound—someone with the ability to create matter out of nothing—and that she alone holds the key to stopping the Reduciata, an evil society that manipulates global events for its own shadowy purposes. Tavia will ultimately have to make a choice: to come into her powers and save the world from the evil Reduciata or to choose free will and a love of her own.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike has created a heart-stopping romance built on a love triangle like you’ve never seen before and filled with epic stakes and a centuries-long conspiracy. Give it to fans of Nightshade and Fallen.

Expected publication: July 30th 2013 by Razorbill

Review: A Song for Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: A Song for Julia

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Publisher:  Cincinnatus Press

Source: ebook – tour

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Everyone should have something to rebel against.

Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success.

Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father’s career and dominating her family’s life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she’s haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy. 

When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.

My Review:

My second ‘new adult’ book and i have to say my run with this genre is going good!

There are certain books that you read and when they finish you can’t stop thinking about them for a good few weeks. Well, this is one of them. Emotional gripping, heart warming and just outright amazing!

I love how all new adult books have an underlying issue that make the premise for the book and the show true character development. Charles Sheehan-Miles really did an awesome job with this book. I literally couldn’t stop reading this book even though i had an insane amount of tests to give the next day. I was very much reading well into the night. His writing was so poetic and engrossing. It had this raw emotional feel to it that just gripped at your heart strings, tugged and screamed, “I will never let you go!”

Characters ranged from all aspects and they were such a joy to read. And all of them developed and grew which is very hard to find in most books. The love story was beautiful. So simple but not cliched at all. I mean you didn’t feel like, “Okay, i’ve read this before somewhere.”

And then it got me thinking – how do these things happen in the first place?

A MUST READ!

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Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe

Author: Beth Revis

Publisher:  Razorbill

Source: paperback – bought

Genre(s): romance; young adult; science fiction; dystopian

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

 

My Review:

Before the book was going to come out, the first thing, i must confess, that caught my eye was the cover. And then the synopsis. Although, i didn’t get to the book till much later into the year.

Having read nothing but rave reviews of the book by other bloggers i went against my apprehension about it being a sci-fi book even though i very much knew that it was not my cup of tea when it came to reading. The fact that it was a dystopian may have also played a part. So, i went and bought the book.

Across the Universe is told from the point of view of both Amy and Elder. I like the dual aspect. Nothing wrong in that. The story opens with Amy being frozen along with her parents, only to be woken well into the future. After that i started to lose focus.

While the book was very well written from what i can tell, i lost all interest in it. Perhaps i got confused. Scratch that, i was very much confused which led me to be frustrated. We get to feel what Amy goes through the first few chapters while she’s frozen and i have to sya i felt pretty claustrophobic while reading that. Suffocated almost and that is something that i really liked. I mean, Revis made me feel what Amy was possibly feeling and i just think much praise should be given to authors who can evoke feelings in the readers like that. Elder on the other hand i was sort of short-tempered-ish with. Somehow i didn’t like him very much. While Amy was someone i could relate to, for instance i would probably react the same way she did all throughout the book, Elder was just someone’s whose chapters i literally flicked through. And i hate doing that when i read a book.

I also think there was too much detail. But perhaps that’s what makes a sci-fi book. Somehow i just felt overwhelmed because it was just going over my head and i couldn’t make sense of it.

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Review: Riptide by Lindsey Scheibe

Title: Riptide

Author: Lindsey Scheibe

 

Publisher: Flux

 

Source: Netgalley

 

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; young adult; sports

 

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Grace has one summer to prove she’s good enough.

For Grace Parker, surfing is all about the ride and the moment. Everything else disappears. She can forget that her best friend, Ford Watson, has a crush on her that she can’t reciprocate. She can forget how badly she wants to get a surf scholarship to UC San Diego. She can forget the pressure of her parents’ impossibly high expectations.

When Ford enters Grace into a surf competition—the only way she can impress the UCSD surfing scouts—she has one summer to train and prepare. Will she gain everything she’s ever wanted or lose the only things that ever mattered?

My Review:

Surf to your heart’s content. Chase your dreams.

Grace Parker needs to prove to herself, her family and the coach at UC San Diego that she’s good enough. 

Lindsey Scheibe weaves a tale about Grace’s hardships in terms of her family and how she comes to understand her feelings for her best friend Ford, who has wanted no one but her ever since he met her.

Every chapter starts off with a quote or a meaning of a surf term, which helped me a lot. Because, truth be told you sort of get confused with all the surfing if you have no idea before hand. Also it’s told from the point of view of both Ford and Grace.

This debut novel focuses on family ideals and coming out strong in terms of believing in yourself and your dreams. Bonus: it focused on domestic violence and I think that gave a real edge to the story.

I had fun reading the book! Summer read? YUP! Literally. But, you could read it any other time.

Review: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Title: Love Story

Author: Jennifer Echols

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

She’s writing about him. he’s writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines.. 

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions–it’s her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family’s racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin’s college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she’s sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He’s joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin’s heart with longing. Now she’s not just imagining what might have been. She’s writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

My Review:

Wait, just a minute! What?! It’s over. Wow!

Can i just say that i love Jennifer Echols for writing this story. It was just the right amount of everything – angst, love, sexy and then everything else!
I absolutely could not stop reading and within a span of hours it was finished – and it’s well into the night, i have school tomorrow, and my brain wasn’t going to shut up unless i wrote this review.

Erin writes from her fantasies, from a longing crush that achieved nothing from. But she doesn’t expect is for her to crush to walk into her creative writing class and read it all. Thus, unfolds a series of stories that are both of their lives and their writing about each other. Feelings bubble to the surface and secrets start falling over.

Echols weaved this amazingly funny and entertaining story whereby i was just waiting for the two characters to hook up. I wanted to be in that creative writing class with them. New York played through my mind as i imagined the places and how i know i too would have been excited at the sight of Simon&Schuster, HarperCollins and other such publishing houses.

Something that i really found beyond sexy (spoiler): When Hunter barges into the class waving Erin’s recent story ‘Obedience’ all angry and shouts at her. Imagined it! LOVED IT! (When you read the story, or if you’ve already read it then you know the reason why Hunter is so upset.)

Related articles

• My Top 5: Jennifer Echols Books (thedailyquirk.com)

Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Title: Easy

Author: Tammara Webber

Genre(s): contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

Source: ebook

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

My Review:

Oh God, i’m at a loss for words. This book was absolutely amazing! The story, the characters…everything!

“Love is not the absence of logic
but logic examined and recalculated
heated and curved to fit
inside the contours of the heart” 

Easy by Tammara Webber is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Jacqueline. What Jacqueline and Lucas share is more than just lust. He saves her from a rape assault and from that very night something untold but understood is established between them.

The premise of the story being set around an issue such as rape really gave the it more depth. The characters battled the affects of it, how its affects the person, friends and family. While the relationship between Jacqueline and Lucas was intoxicating and just perfect ( obviously, not in literal sense ) there was more beneath the surface. Lucas was battling his own demons and Jacqueline was a saviour, he had secretly crushed on. Both were each other’s saviours.

New Adult isn’t exactly young adult because it delves into the world of adult fiction but at the same time pertains to young people – if that makes any sense.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!

Related articles

• eBook Review: Easy by Tammara Webber (goodereader.com)
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2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Review: None of the Regular Rules by Erin Downing

 Title: None of the Regular Rules

Author: Erin Downing

Genre(s): young-adult; contemporary fiction/romance; new adult

Source: ebook

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Sometimes, a few dares can change lives…

The weekend before the start of senior year, Sophie Erickson and her best friends, Ella and Grace, discover a handwritten list of dares tucked away in the glove compartment of Sophie’s beat-up old Toyota. But this isn’t just any list; it’s a dead girl’s bucket list.

Sophie’s beloved aunt Suzy died as a teenager in a fatal fall, leaving Sophie with an overly cautious family, a few fading photographs, and a bucket of bolts that barely passes for a car. But now, Sophie has Suzy’s list of the things she wanted to do in her last year of high school. Sophie can’t help but wonder: What would happen if she tried to fulfill Suzy’s last wishes, to live out the longed-for life of her aunt, her hero?

As Sophie and her friends attempt to knock off the things on Suzy’s list of dares, love blossoms in unexpected places and Sophie begins to feel that her life is finally coming together…when in fact, everything is slowly unraveling around her. When the truth about a long-held family secret threatens to shatter everything she believed to be true, Sophie is forced to question everything she knew about the life and people she believed in, and ultimately herself.

 

My Review:

Sophie comes from a family that appreciates safety and the easy way. Nothing reckless or rebellious. And they have their reasons, because Sophie’s aunt fell off a water tower. But Sophie feels like something is missing and with the end of school just right around the corner, the feeling of foreboding just sticks. So, when she and her best friends, Ella and Grace, find a list of aunt Suzy’s dares they think what better way to end the year.

Over the course of the dares, friendships are tested, family secrets are revealed and all the characters change for the better. I cried, laughed and smiled all throughout the novel, and only a few books have managed to do that. Maybe because with None of the Regular Rules, i sort of connected. Sophie was someone i could relate to in many ways.

Erin Downing really wrote an amazing novel. I’ve read one of her previous ones, Prom Crashers, and while that was good too, this was even better! Not to mention the fact that i just about love books that revolve around ‘dares’ or some sort of list that the character needs to finish. Just makes it more interesting, i guess.

Hopefully, i’ll come across my own list at some point.
Great read!

In My Mailbox #31

Bought!

“Waiting On” Wednesday #44

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s pre-publication “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Towering

by Alex Flinn

 

 

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on.
Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. 

Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.

Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now. 

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Alex Flinn knows her fairy tales, and Towering is her most mind-bending interpretation yet. Dark and mysterious, this reimagining of Rapunzel will have readers on the edge of their seats wondering where Alex will take them next!

 

Expected publication: May 14th 2013 by HarperTeen (first published April 24th 2013)

 

 

Review: Hooked by Liz Fichera

Title: Hooked

Author: Liz Fichera

 

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

 

Expected publication: January 31st 2013

 

Genre(s): young-adult; contemporary romance; sports

 

Source: uncorrected proof

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Get hooked on a girl named Fred… 

HE said: Fred Oday is a girl? Why is a girl taking my best friends spot on the boy’s varsity golf team?

SHE said: Can I seriously do this? Can I join the boys’ team? Everyone will hate me – especially Ryan Berenger.

HE said: Coach expects me to partner with Fred on the green? That is crazy bad. Fred’s got to go – especially now that I can’t get her out of my head. So not happening.

SHE said: Ryan can be nice, when he’s not being a jerk. Like the time he carried my golf bag. But the girl from the rez and the spoiled rich boy from the suburbs? So not happening.

But there’s no denying that things are happening as the girl with the killer swing takes on the boy with the killer smile…

 

My Review:

Sports with sexual tension…throw in the only girl on a boy’s team…you have me Hooked. (see what i did there)

People who know me, are aware of the fact that i absolutely LOVE young adult sports fiction. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that i can’t play a sport to save my life but have this dream to go into the field.

Fred Oday, you i absolutely admired from the minute the book started was a force to be reckoned with. She had equal amounts of vulnerability and strength to stand up for what she wanted. So, when she joined the boy’s golf team, let’s just say no one was happy. Not to mention the fact that she was Native American.

Liz Fichera wrote a fantastic novel which threw me head first into a world of golf and Native Americans. I absolutely loved the history and lifestyle of the people on the reservation, but i have to say the golf analogy kind of threw me off. There was point when there was so much that nothing made sense. I am horrified at me lack of knowledge especially since there was a point where i actually wanted to play golf. I think it may have been revived after the novel as well.

Now Ryan, he was a force to be reckoned with. Granted there were moments where i didn’t like the choices he made but i guess its not that easy standing up to your friends and family. But he came around. Only, i fell for him from the beginning.

You know, i’m so glad that i got to read this book so early because i had been pining for it ever since i heard about it…from goodreads of course. Such a good book. So, worth the read.

Review: Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Title: Obsidian Mirror

Author: Catherine Fisher

Publisher:  Hodder Children’s Books

Expected publication: October 4th 2012

Genre(s): young-adult; 

Source: uncorrected proof

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Jake’s father disappears while working on mysterious experiments with the obsessive, reclusive Oberon Venn. Jake is convinced Venn has murdered him. But the truth he finds at the snow-bound Wintercombe Abbey is far stranger … The experiments concerned a black mirror, which is a portal to both the past and the future. Venn is not alone in wanting to use its powers. Strangers begin gathering in and around Venn’s estate: Sarah – a runaway, who appears out of nowhere and is clearly not what she says, Maskelyne – who claims the mirror was stolen from him in some past century. There are others, a product of the mirror’s power to twist time. And a tribe of elemental beings surround this isolated estate, fey, cold, untrustworthy, and filled with hate for humans. But of them all, Jake is hell-bent on using the mirror to get to the truth. Whatever the cost, he must learn what really happened to his father.

My Review:

Adventure. Time travel. Faeries.

In three words, that would be the premise of the novel.

Granted I wanted to read Incarceron for the longest of time, still haven’t, but when the opportunity presented itself i couldn’t pass it up. Obsidian Mirror was everything i had never read and i was intrigued.

Jake’s father goes missing while trying to do a secret project, time travel. And Jake is convinced that the person funding his education, his father’s best friend Venn, is behind it. So, starts a series of mysteries and accidental time travels. It’s everything rolled into one.

While there were parts where the scene dragged on for a bit, the book as a whole kept me hooked. I wanted to see something play out between Sarah and Jake (the silly romantic that resides within me and wants something to look forward to in a book) nothing of the sort happened. Although there seemed to be a hint to in at the very end. And i mean VERY end.

Although i don’t quite agree that it is young adult. Maybe on the border of young adult but still teetering in middle grade.

All in all a fun read!

 

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

 

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman

Publisher:   Random House Books for Young Readers

Genre(s): young-adult; romance; contemporary fiction

Source: ebook

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen. Stay, he says.

Everybody has to make choices. Some might break you. For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they’re all about a future full of music and love, a future that’s brimming with hope. 

But life can change in an instant. 

A cold February morning …a snowy road …and suddenly all of Mia’s choices are gone. Except one. As alone as she’ll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all. 

Gripping, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you’ve lost – and all that might be.

 

My Review:

This is the first of its kind that i have read. Although, the synopsis doesn’t do it justice, in the sense that i didn’t quite know what i was getting into when i first started reading it…till, well it happened.

If I Stay, as the title suggests is about Mia, stuck in a kind of limbo while her body is a comatose state and the question is – should she stay or should she go?
It’s something i’ve thought about too. How does one know that their loved one is waiting in between either trying to find their way back or just not. Euthanasia isn’t an easy choice, but this book isn’t about that.

Gayle Forman cleverly weaves a story around Mia who reflects on her past while watches the actions of those around her in the hospital as they pray and hope that she wakes up. Having been in an accident that rendered her an orphan and without her brother, she really has nothing left for her to live for. And there does come a point in the story where she wants it to be over. But then everyone around shows her that she has a family. Bigger than the one she lost and they’re all rooting for her.

It was such a beautiful sad story. About the loss of family, love and grief. And the ultimate question whether to stay or to go.

Related articles

• Scattered Pages – If I Stay (lalalalady.wordpress.com)

Review: Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Title: Chasing Brooklyn

Author: Lisa Schroeder

Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Genre(s): young-adult; romance; contemporary; paranormal

Source: Hardcover – bought

My Rating: 

Synopsis (goodreads):

Restless souls and empty hearts

Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe’s ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn’t Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca’s ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they’re being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

My Review:

I’ve come to love books in verse. So, when i come across one, i tend to buy it no matter what. And it obviously helps if I’ve already heard about the book. There is just something about the way stories are told in verse. Rather enjoyable to read and unfortunately quick to finish.

Chasing Brooklyn is about a girl named Brooklyn and no we aren’t chasing her, at least until you get inside her dreams. You see, she’s being haunted by her dead boyfriend’s dead friend. And her dead boyfriend’s brother is being haunted by dead boyfriend. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? But, really it isn’t.

While the basis of the story was sad and about loss, you also tend to feel hopeful for the characters. As cheesy and cliched as this sounds – you become one with the character because you come to terms with their loss along with them. Their fears become your fears. Their strength becomes your strength.

Its a gripping love story. A haunting story. There are times when I absolutely love the chemistry between Nico and Brooklyn, but then come Brooklyn’s dreams and I’m scared. They were so real. Incredibly so.

Lisa Schroeder really did a commendable job with this book. Oh, and she made me want to join a triathlon too!

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