March 30, 2015

Review: Delinquents (Dusty #2) by Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth

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Publish Date: October 22nd, 2014
Publisher: The Elizabeths, LLC
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Downloaded a free copy from Amazon.

Blurb:
The innocent girl with a delinquent heart has to live with her bad choices. Secret hope and hurt feel like falling while she learns how to breathe again, but there's still freedom in trouble.

The runaway with blacked-out eyes is losing his grip. Crushing two hearts in one fist, his addiction bends rules and breaks deals, but the boy born for bliss isn't going anywhere without a fight.

Love is knowing they should stay away, but love is illogical at best.

She's afraid to let go.

He won't let her.

This is how silliness and foolishness grow up.

Here, forever is a lie.

March 28, 2015

Review: Innocents (Dusty #1) by Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth

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Publish Date: July 14th, 2014
Publisher: CreateSpace
Rating: 4.5 / 5

Downloaded a free copy from Amazon.

Blurb:
The girl with an innocent heart knows all about bad choices, but has yet to make them for herself. Searching for freedom, she finds it in the delinquent down the hall.

The troublemaker with summer-sky blue eyes knows he should stay away, but can’t resist the blissful wonder who makes his house a home.

She’s a hopeless romantic. He’s just hopeless.

She’s his reason, but he might not catch her when she falls.

She loves him. He loves her crazy.

This is what happens when a love made of secrets is kept with rules instead of promises.

March 26, 2015

Feature & Follow: BEA?

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Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

The point of Feature and Follow is to meet new people & gain followers in the book blog community!

How it works: Each week, Rachel and Alison post a question for bloggers to answer, provide a bloghop link, and choose two lucky participants to feature in their blogs!


Review: Hopeless (Hopeless #1) by Colleen Hoover

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Publish Date: December 19th, 2012
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: 4 / 5

I own a physical copy.

Blurb:
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies...

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

Review: Maybe Someday (Maybe Someday #1) by Colleen Hoover

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Publish Date: March 18th, 2014
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Purchased the Kindle Edition through Amazon.

Blurb:
At twenty-two years old, Sydney is enjoying a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers that Hunter is cheating on her—and she’s forced to decide what her next move should be.

Soon, Sydney finds herself captivated by her mysterious and attractive neighbor, Ridge. She can't take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. They soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one.

A passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance, Maybe Someday will immerse readers in Sydney’s tumultuous world from the very first page.

March 23, 2015

Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

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Publish Date: August 5th, 2014
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: 4 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Purchased the Kindle edition through Amazon.

Blurb:
When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

March 22, 2015

Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

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Publish Date: March 10th, 2015
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: 5 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Purchased the Kindle Edition through Amazon.

Blurb:
Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin...

Review: Insanity (Asylum #1) by Lauren Hammond

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Publish Date: May 8th, 2012
Publisher: SB Addison Books
Rating: 3 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble


Downloaded the Kindle version for free off the Amazon website.

Blurb:
Adelaide Carmichael and Damien Allen couldn’t be more opposite.

Adelaide’s mother abandoned her when she was ten years old, leaving her to be raised by her abusive and alcoholic father.

Damien on the other hand came from a wealthy family, was a local celebrity, and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.

Despite their differences, Adelaide and Damien were young, wild, and fiercely in love.

And they had a plan.

They were going to run away.

Be together forever.

And their plan was set in motion, until tragedy struck and for some reason, Adelaide wound up in The Oakhill Institution for the insane.

Adelaide has no idea what she did to wind up at Oakhill, but she knows one thing for sure...

She wants out.

And after Damien follows her there to aid her in escaping, Adelaide slowly begins putting together the pieces of her memory that are missing.

And it doesn’t take Adelaide long to figure out that sometimes...

That one true love never dies.

Warning: Do not read if you have a weak heart.

March 21, 2015

Short Story Review: So... I Met a Demon by Paul McAvoy

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Publish Date: August 19th, 2014
Publisher: Createspace
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon

I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb:
In a small English town, the residents stay clear of a rundown house they call Spook House. Things have happened there, bad things the locals never talk about. Young Ben sees a girl in the garden of the house one day... a girl who says she is trapped... a girl no-one else can see but him. Concerned, his parents forbid him to go near the place. The girl appears once a year, for the next six years, never ageing. She is held there against her will by a power greater than anyone could imagine... Can Ben help set the girl free from the clutches of Spook House? This is the third book in the So... I Met series by Paul McAvoy, a gripping read, it is a stand-alone novel like the previous two which can be read without having read the others.

March 20, 2015

Review: World After (Penryn & the End of Days #2) by Susan Ee

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Publish Date: November 19th, 2013
Publisher: Skyscape
Rating: 4 /5

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

March 19, 2015

Feature & Follow: Inspiring Book Characters

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Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

The point of Feature and Follow is to meet new people & gain followers in the book blog community!

How it works: Each week, Rachel and Alison post a question for bloggers to answer, provide a bloghop link, and choose two lucky participants to feature in their blogs!


March 15, 2015

Review: Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee

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Publish Date: August 28th, 2012
Publisher: Skyscape
Rating: 5 /5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble



I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.


Blurb:
It's been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.

Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.

When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back...

March 14, 2015

ARC Review: Hidden Deep (Hidden #1) by Amy Patrick

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Release Date: March 23rd, 2015
Publisher: Oxford South Press
Rating: 2 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon


I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb:
He isn't supposed to even talk to a human, much less fall in love with one...

Sixteen-year-old Ryann Carroll has just run into the guy who saved her life ten years ago. You might think she'd be happy to see him again. Not exactly. She's a bit underdressed (as in skinny-dipping) and he's not supposed to exist.

After her father's affair, all Ryann wants is to escape the family implosion fallout and find a little peace. She also wouldn't mind a first date that didn't suck, but she's determined not to end up like her mom: vulnerable, betrayed, destroyed. Ryann's just moved into her grandma's house in rural Mississippi, the same place where ten years earlier she became lost in the woods overnight and nearly died.

She's still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He's still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she's with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann's strict policy-- never want someone more than he wants you.

Seventeen-year-old Lad knows the law of his people all too well: Don't get careless and Don't get caught. It's allowed his race to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore. Lad's never been able to forget about Ryann since that night ten years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He's not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.

And the timing is atrocious. The Assemblage is coming, the rift between the Light and Dark is widening. Lad may have to trade his own chance at happiness to keep the humans, especially Ryann, blissfully ignorant and safe.

March 13, 2015

ARC Review: The Girl at Midnight (The Girl at Midnight #1) by Melissa Grey

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Release Date: April 28th, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Rating: 3 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb:
For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

March 12, 2015

Feature & Follow: Special Memes?

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Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

The point of Feature and Follow is to meet new people & gain followers in the book blog community!

How it works: Each week, Rachel and Alison post a question for bloggers to answer, provide a bloghop link, and choose two lucky participants to feature in their blogs!


March 10, 2015

Review: First Year (The Black Mage #1) by Rachel E Carter

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Publish Date: August 11th, 2014
Publisher: Astraea Press
Rating: 4 / 5 
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Blurb:
Before the age of seventeen the young men and women of Jerar are given a choice –follow tradition, or pursue a trial year in one of the realm’s three war schools to study as a soldier, knight or mage...

For 15-year-old Ryiah the choice has always been easy. Become a warrior and leave the boring confines of her lowborn life behind. Set to enroll in the School of Knighthood on the eve of her next birthday, plans suddenly shift when her twin brother discovers powers. Hoping that hers will soon follow, she enrolls with Alex at the Academy instead –the realm’s most notorious war school for those with magic.

Yet when she arrives Ry finds herself competing against friend and foe for one of the exalted apprenticeships. Every “first-year” is given a trial year to prove their worth –and no amount of hard work and drive will guarantee them a spot. It seems like everyone is rooting for her to fail –and first and foremost among them Prince Darren, the school prodigy who has done nothing but make life miserable since she arrived.

When an accidental encounter leads Ryiah and Darren to an unlikely friendship she is convinced nothing good will come of it. But the lines become blurred when she begins to improve –and soon she is a key competitor for the faction of Combat... Still, nothing is ever as it seems –and when the world comes crashing down around her, Ry is forced to place faith in the one thing she can believe in –herself. Will it be enough?

Cover Reveal: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
(Throne of Glass #4)
Release Date: September 1st, 2015

Book Blurb:
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past...

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

March 7, 2015

Giveaway Thanks, Long Overdue Award Nominations, & Work Stress

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Thank goodness the weekend is here! It's been a tough one, for sure.

I work as part of the branch management team for a certain bank, and unfortunately, the two colleagues that complete management with me have decided to pursue other opportunities at other banks. This probably means working 6 days a week with a lot of overtime for me and it couldn't have come at a worst time. I'm getting married next month and I only have the rest of this month to finalize my wedding plans. I need days off, not extra work!

On top of it all, I haven't had time to read anything lately and I hate it!

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to thank two of my fellow bloggers for hosting the two giveaways I won this week! (At least something went right!) I also wanted to post my long overdue responses to a couple of blogger awards I was nominated for!

March 5, 2015

Feature & Follow: Furry Friends

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Feature and Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

The point of Feature and Follow is to meet new people & gain followers in the book blog community!

How it works: Each week, Rachel and Alison post a question for bloggers to answer, provide a bloghop link, and choose two lucky participants to feature in their blogs!

March 1, 2015

Review: Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard

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Publish Date: February 10th, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Blurb:
The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?