Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

This book is part of my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.

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Everneath
Brodi Ashton
Series: Everneath #1
Publication date: January 24th 2012 by HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
< br/> As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.

Nikki has been away for a hundred years.

She made the choice to leave those she loved behind her when she decided to go to the Everneath. But when the option of coming back to the Surface and see her family and friends and her boyfriend once again was presented to her, she couldn't bring herself to say no.

Time passes differently to those who live in the Surface, and Nikki has been away for only six months when she crawls out of hell and back to earth. To say that reconnecting to the people she loves is hard is an understatement, but Nikki is determined to spend the last six months she has on earth with those she cares about before the Everneath claims her back.

But things aren't as easy as she thought they would be, not when Cole, the Everliving who took her to the Everneath in the first place, does everything in his power to try and convince her to go back with him. He wants to take over the throne and rule the Everneath, and he has no doubt in his mind that Nikki can help him make that happen.

Nikki's time is running out, and she finds herself faced with an impossible task: escape the claws of those trying to suck her back into the Everneath or accept her fate and come back down as Cole's queen and rule the underworld.

Eerneath was quite a fun read. It was heavy on mythology and with a non-linear timeline that gave us glimpses of the past and of how Nikki got herself into this mess as we went along. That also made the beginning a little bit confusing for me, because I had no idea who was supposed to be the bad guy and what the hell was happening (I didn't read the blurb before starting the book).

I got hooked in right from the beginning, trying to make sense of what was happening and how everything fit together. The author did a wonderful job with portraying Nikki's emotions and I really felt for her and what she was going through as I read the story.

Jack and Cole just made everything better, from Cole's manipulative ways to Jack's love for Nikki. They were total opposites of each other, and reading about their interactions with Nikki and with each other really brought something more to the book.

Nikki's resolve to keep things from people was one of the downsides of Everneath for me. It felt unnecessary, and every time she failed to mention something important to someone because she was too scared to do things the hard way I just wanted to shake her.

"I took the easy way out. I begged for the easy way out. Cole took the pain away, and I didn't care it would ruin everything in my life, because I was stupid enough to think I had nothing else to lose."

And that's Nikki's problem. And why it was so hard to relate to her and like her sometimes. Because even though she knows taking the easy way out ruined her life, she kept making the same mistakes because she didn't want to face people's hurts and reactions to what she'd have to tell them.

Everneath was still a good book, and it had an ending that, although predictable, still left me wanting to know more about Nikki, Jack, and Cole's stories. There were a lot of ties left loose, a lot of history to be explored, and I hope it all gets answered in the second installment of the Everneath series: Everbound.

Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

This book is part of my 2013 Debut Author Challenge.

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Parallel
Lauren Miller
Publication date: May 14th 2013 by HarperTeen
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Abbi's life is spiraling out of her control.

She spent her entire high school career carefully planning her way into Northwestern so she could become a journalist, not leaving even the smallest detail in the hands of fate. That is, until one of the classes that form her perfect schedule gets canceled.

Forced to make a choice between drama or astronomy classes, Abbi decides to try her hand at theater and ends up getting the lead in one of her high school plays. Her performance is so good that, next thing she knows, she's stuck in a Hollywood movie set on the eve of her eighteenth birthday and kissing all of her college dreams goodbye. All because of one tiny choice she made all those months ago that she'd do anything to take it back.

And then she wakes up in her dorm room at Yale next to the roommate she never met and trying to figure out what happened.

With the help of her best friend, Caitlin, Abbi finds out that she's living in her alternate life. In a parallel universe where she took astronomy instead of theater and never got the opportunity to be a Hollywood movie star. But not only is she living the life of her parallel self, her parallel is living Abbi's senior year of high school and altering Abbi's life with every choice she makes.

As Abbi struggles with her ever-changing reality she has to learn that somethings are out of her control, that soulmates exist, and that all paths, no matter how wrong they seem, always lead to the same destiny. Her own.

Parellel was complicated.

The beginning can be extremely confusing if you're used to reading at lightning speed like I am. It took me about four chapters to decipher what the author was trying to tell me when the parallel universes were introduced to the story, much like I had absolutely no idea in what universe the real Abbi was in until about a third of the story.

Dr. Mann and Caitlin's explanations of what was going on actually helped a lot. They were fascinating, to say the least, and made the book a thousand times more enjoyable to me. The only reason Parallel is getting three stars is because of Dr. Mann's classes and Caitlin's science boner and how cool it and entertaining it was to read about it.

Because something had to entertain me, really, after all of the not knowing what was happening.

Plus, Abbi got on my nerves a lot. It's understandable that you're going to be a mess while trying to grasp the fact that you're stuck in a universe that's not yours while your other self is screwing up your life, but if it bothers you so much to be living a life that you didn't chose for yourself do something about it.

And that's the biggest problem of Parallel for me. Abbi, or should I say the plot, were entirely way too focused on the romantic relationships between characters than in actually trying to find a way for Abbi to go back to her rightful universe. 

What started out as a book about science fiction and the wonders of parallel universes and what makes them so differently unique ended up as a character's struggle to discover who was the right man for her. And I don't think we need parallel universes to figure that out, do we?

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

This book is part of my 2013 Young Adult Contemporary Challenge.

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Dare You To
Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #2
Publication date: May 28th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads - Amazon

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....

Like a lot of people who have been following the series, I was so confused when I read the blurb to Dare You To and saw that this story was about Beth but not about Isaiah. From the little insight we had about Beth's life in Pushing the Limits we already knew Isaiah and her were super close, so it was really not a stretch to think this book would be about them.

Well...

It wasn't.

It was still about Beth. It was still about how the only real concept of family she has is two boys and the basement of someone's house, how dealing with an alcoholic mother who has an abusive boyfriend made her a more than a little skeptical and closed off, how she's used to people only wanting to use her and then forgetting all about her.

And then there was Ryan.

Ryan had what others thought it was the perfect life: he had money, popularity, and a bright future ahead of him. But life at home was not like everybody thought it was with Ryan's parents barely speaking to each other, his dad pressuring him into a career he doesn't know if he wants for himself, and the painful absence of his brother during family dinners.

Beth and Ryan couldn't be more opposites, but as they say: opposites attract.

What follows is Beth trying to evade Ryan's every move, believing that if she lets him get too close to her she's only going to end up hurt. It makes for a very frustrating plot device, because every time you think something's going to finally happen... Beth runs!

It's understandable, though, especially with what's going on in her life. We also learn more about her family and have the introduction of her uncle Scott, who plays a really important part in getting Beth the help she needs. Noah and Echo make an appearance, not letting us forget what we already went through to get to Beth's story.

I actually liked this book a lot more than I did Pushing the Limits. The realness of all the characters and the situations they found themselves in hooked me from the beginning, and I couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened to all of them. It was one fabulous written sequel, and I can't wait to read what comes next.

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

This book is part of my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.

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Starcrossed
Josephine Angelini
Series: Starcrossed #1
Publication date: May 31st 2011 by HarperTeen
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

I originally rated this as a 3 stars book but upon reviewing and rereading some parts I had to change it to 2.

A funny thing happened when I picked up Starcrossed and sat down to read it for one of my reading challenges. I didn't really notice it at first but some parts felt weirdly familiar to me, like I had read them before, and it wasn't until I was around chapter three that I realized that was really the case. Apparently I tried reading this a couple of months after it came out but gave up halfway through and didn't touch it again.

Until now.

And I'm kind of wishing I had left it alone.

The beginning went by so freaking slowly for me, it was like I was dragging my feet trying to get through this story. I was bored. I didn't get pulled in by the story or its characters, and the only reason why I kept reading it was because I was hoping it would get better.

Not that it did, not really.

The Greek mythology part of the story had its moments, so did Helen's best friend Claire. Both aspects kept me entertained for the most part - and are also the reason why this book is getting 2 stars -, that is until Helen and Lucas' relationship was mentioned. And oh my god what a freaking mess their story was.

I'm getting kind of tired of reading about the whole girl-meets-boy-and-instantly-feels-a-connection-to-him-only-to-find-out-they-can't-be-together story. That's exactly what happened in Starcrossed, with Helen meeting Lucas and not being able to stay away from him even when the gods themselves told her to.

And the twist on their relationship and final reason of why they can't be together was such a communication failure. Like, if both of them just stopped for a second to think about what was said to them as to why their relationship shouldn't happen and then looked back at facts and dates and just thought about it, they'd know people were lying to them. I love misunderstandings in stories, especially the angst that it brings, but this was too much.

In conclusion, I wished I had left this book alone and went on with my life.

Waiting on Wednesday (5): Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

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

Spirit

Brigid Kemmerer

Series: Elemental #3

Publication date: May 28th 2013 by K Teen

Goodreads - Amazon

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

As much as I love the Merrick brothers, I can't wait to read about Hunter!

I'm really excited about reading about the perspective of someone from the outside of the Merrick family, and the new powers that Hunter brings with him.

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Can't wait to read Spirit?

Amazon

Breathless (Elementals #2.5) is a novella that gives us a little bit of insight into the world of Nick Merrick and the secret he's been hiding.

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Connect with the author

Brigid's Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Brigid Kemmerer finds the time to write somewhere between caring for her family and working at her day job, but sometimes she ends up mothering her coworkers and managing her family. Storm: The Elemental Series is her first novel.

Review: Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Peril
Wendy Higgins
Series: The Sweet Trilogy #2
Publication date: April 30th
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads - Amazon

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things. 

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

MY FAVORITE TRILOGY IS BACK! *jumps up and down*

I've been waiting so long for this that when I actually got my copy I might have cried a little bit. I was really nervous to read this because I thought Sweet Evil was just so freaking good and I didn't want to be disappointed in case this one didn't live up to it.

But guess what?

Sweet Peril is even better.

The book starts out with a prologue that gives us a little more background to the relationship the Dukes have with the Nephilims, and it kind of also gives us a really big scare. My first thought when I read it was that things were going to happen and they were going to hurt.

So after you start preparing yourself for the worst, the story picks up months after the ending of book 1 with Anna being completely different from the girl we read about on Sweet Evil. She's heartbroken and she's doing her best not to draw attention to herself, which means she's working. She's partying and drinking and leading people down to the rough road of self-destruction.

When she thinks things are finally settling down - as much as they can, anyway, when you're the daughter of a fallen angel and a Neph -, things take a really interesting turn. Suddenly, Anna finds herself traveling to foreign countries with Kopano and looking for allies to help her fulfill a prophecy that will have the entire world of angels, demons, and Nephs in chaos.

I cannot find the words to tell you how great this sequel was. It kept me hooked from the beginning until the very end, and it surprised me with all of its twists and turns along the way. The love triangle between Kai, Anna, and Kope was handled perfectly and made it for a believable plot aspect of the story. Anna and Kai's relationship or lack thereof and how it developed from him going away and then to what happens at the very end was also very well executed, and I'm just so happy with everything about it.

Wendy Higgins deserves all the cookies for giving us such an amazing story and characters to love, and I'll just sit here and quietly cry on my copies of Sweet Evil and Sweet Peril until the last installment comes out.

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

This book is part of my 2013 Young Adult Contemporary Challenge.

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Golden
Jessi Kirby
Publication date: May 14th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads - Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

Tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Parker Frost doesn't quite know how to answer that question. She's lived her entire life following the carefully thought out plan her mother has for her: study hard, get good grades, get into Stanford, study some more.

It's when she's doing her TA job and helping her English teacher with a school project that she finds something that's going to change her life forever, something that's going to make her question everything she thought she wanted in life and for herself.

A moment was all it took to change everything.

We don't get just Parker's story while we're reading Golden. It's kind of a two-for-one type of deal: we read about Parker and how she struggles with taking charge of her life, and then we get little snippets of Julianna and Shane's relationship and the mysterious Orion who changed everything.

Jessi Kirby does a great job with combining those two aspects together, what happened with what's happening now and then trying to figure out what happens next. It was really satisfying to me as a reader to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together just as Parker did, and seeing how her figuring out what went by all those years ago made her start changing things in her own life.

Taking a chance can be worth a lot more than you know.

It's taking a chance that puts Parker in this mess, and it's taking a lot of other chances along the way that help her learn the kind of person that she is and the kind of person she strives to be. That's what I loved most about the book. Parker finding herself and going after what she believes in, getting back up on her feet after she fails and trying again.

Golden turned out to be just as great as I thought it would, and it's not really a surprise it made its way to my list of favorites books ever. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes an amazing story with a rich plot and well-developed characters. You won't regret it.

[...] sometimes life gives us those rare moments where we do see a chance as it's happening. And in those moments, we have a choice. And sometimes we have to take a risk. And it's scary. It makes us vulnerable. But I know now that it's worth it.

Waiting on Wednesday (4): Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

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

Impostor

Susanne Winnacker

Series: Variants #1

Publication date: May 28th 2013 by Razorbill

Goodreads - Amazon

Can Tessa pose as Madison . . . and stop a killer before it’s too late? 

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again. 

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

The premise on this one is really interesting?

The whole absorbing DNA thing and becoming someone else. And then working with the FBI to help catch serial killers.

And I can't wait to read about Tessa dealing with playing the part of Madison, being a normal girl for once, and then maybe learning how to accept herself for who she is?

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Connect with the author
Susanne's Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Susanne Winnacker studied law before she became a full-time writer. She lives with her husband, a dog that looks like a sheep and three bunnies that have destroyed every piece of furniture she's ever owned in Germany. She loves coffee (in every shape and form), traveling and animals. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her in the kitchen, experimenting with new vegan dishes.

Review: Unlovable by Sherry Gammon

This book is part of my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.

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Unlovable
Sherry Gammon
Series: Port Fare #1
Publication date: January 19th 2011 by Wordpainting Unlimited Inc.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Port Fare, New York, has fallen into the clutches of true evil. The Dreser brothers have arrived with a scheme to increase drug sales in the area by whatever means possible. Seth Prescott is part of MET (Mobile Enforcement Teams) a branch of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). He's been assigned to work undercover at Port Fare High, and things aren't going very well, until senior Maggie Brown enters the equation. He's harbored a secret crush on her from day one, and now that she is in the center of the case, he's trying to stay clear and objective while walking the line between business and unrequited love.

Maggie is truly the poster child for Heroin Chic, complete with jutting bones and dark-ringed eyes, but is she an addict, or is there another reason for her appearance? She struggles with her feelings for Seth, fearing he is just another person who will eventually let her down, as everyone in her life has done thus far.

Maggie has spent her life caring for her alcoholic mother. A task that has left her heavily burdened and alone. Before long, her mother's health takes a turn for the worst, sending Maggie's life into a tale-spin.

While Seth works relentlessly to inject fear into the dealers and flush them out into the open, Maggie fights to stay alive as the hunt turns deadly.

Seth and Maggie's romantic journey is one of humor, heartbreak, and self-discovery.

I've been meaning to read this for forever, and the opportunity presented itself when I signed up for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge. What caught my attention when I first saw this book was the premise of an undercover agent falling in love with a high school girl, mostly because I just love all the heartbreak that situations like this bring.

Seth goes undercover as a high school student to try and bring down a ring of heroine drug dealers who started targeting and sealing drugs to teenagers. And Maggie is the poster child for heroin chick: too skinny, hair falling flat and dead from her head, sunk eyes with dark circles under it, and always wearing baggy and long-sleeved sweatshirts.

As they grow closer and the investigation progresses, Maggie's name comes up as one of the people who could be the FBI's missing link to catch the drug dealers. Seth is assigned to keep close watch and "become her friend", but his feelings for her and the certainty he has that she's not guilty soon get in the way, and what is an already complicated situation ends up becoming even messier. Especially considering the secrets both of them are keeping from each other.

The events are told in various POVs, so we get everyone's side of the story, and I think that's one of the reasons why I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. As nice as it was to read about different perspectives from different characters, some of the dialogue just seemed a little bit off to me.

Maggie and Seth's relationship was also a bit hard to relate to, considering how they go from Seth flirting and Maggie shutting him down to both of them being desperately in love with each other.

Overall it was an interesting book, enough to make me want to read the sequel, but there was nothing there that really caught my attention.

Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Pivot Point
Kasie West
Series: Pivot Point #1
Publication date: February 12th 2013 byHarperTeen
Rating: ★★★★☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

 Awe·some: adj. this book.

Addie has the ability to see the future. Well, sort of. The only future she can see is herself's, and only when presented with a choice. She has the ability to Search and see both outcomes of it, making her pretty good at avoiding any potential disasters or mistakes in her life.

Things change when her parents tell her they're getting a divorce, and suddenly she's faced with the choice of who she wants to live with - with her mom in the Compound and the only place she ever knew as home, or with her dad on the Outside with the "Norms", people who didn't have any special abilities. So when her best friend Laila tells her to do a Search to find out which path is best for her, Addie can't see why not. But as she comes back from her Search she's faced with a difficult choice - none of the futures she saw were particularly good ones.

Each chapter of the book tells you a story from one reality's perspective. One in which Addie still lives at home and is the quarterback's girlfriend and the other where she's adjusting to life outside of the Compound and meets Trevor, a cute boy with amazing artistic skills and a bad shoulder.

I have to give congrats to the author for this, because it was a pretty neat and interesting way to organize a book, and it kept me hook until the end. The plot itself, with all the time tricking and whatnot, was really well written and I could always tell what was happening and how it related to things on the other reality.

It was a really fun and original read, and I'll just sit here and wait until the sequel comes out!

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
Series: Lunar Chronicles #1
Publication date: January 3rd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends
Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads - Amazon

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

ALL THE AWARDS!!

All of them.

Seriously, who thought a book about Robot Cinderella would be so good?

This is probably the best fairy tale retelling I have ever read. Ever. And I'm extremely angry at myself for not having read this before now, because this is brilliant.

Cinder is a cyborg who works as a mechanic to support her (evil) stepmother and two stepsisters. It's while she's at her booth in the market place one day that she meets the Prince, Kai, who comes looking for her due to her amazing skills at mechanics and asks her to fix his droid. As if meeting the Prince wasn't enough excitement for a day, one of the bakers there shows signs of having letumosis, a plague that has been terrorizing the world.

It's no surprise that after all of that happens, Cinder's life turns upside down.

One of Cinder's stepsisters, the one she actually loves, catches the plague while helping her scavenge the junkyard. Prince Kai shows some interest in her, but he has no idea she's a cyborg. And Cinder, after her stepmother lives up to everyone's expectations of being evil, finds out that her past is even more mysterious and tragic than she first thought.

I'm still a little bit in awe of how freaking amazing Cinder is. Even thought the story is a new take on Cinderella and you can probably figure out most of the key plot points, it is, hands down, one of the most original and amazingly written books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. In just a few chapters I could already tell it would turn out to be one of my favorite books, and I'm hoping the second installment of the series, Scarlet, will be just as good, if not better, than Cinder.

Review: Altered by Jennifer Rush

Altered
Jennifer Rush
Series: Altered #1
Publication date: January 1st 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Rating: 4 stars

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When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. 

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Altered is one hell of a roller coaster ride.

There are four boys living in the lab below Anna's house. Sam, Nick, Trev, and Cas are genetically altered to be the perfect soldiers - smarter, stronger, and faster than the average guy -, and they're all being held, monitored, and treated by Anna's dad as part of a project founded by the Branch. Anna doesn't know why they're there, what the government plans to do with them, or whatever happened to the boys before they got to her house without any memory of who they were.

When the Branch decides to terminate the project, the boys are presented with an opportunity to escape the confines of the lab and go in search of answers about themselves and what lead them to become what they are now. What they don't plan for is Anna being forced to come with them, after their attempt to free themselves doesn't go as well as they hoped. And as they look for clues about the mess they're in, Anna and the boys discover that some things aren't what they seem, and that they're more connected to each other than they all originally thought.

The idea of genetically altered eighteen-year-old boys, who age at a much slower pace than normal human beings, being held up in a lab underground and monitored by a Doctor and his daughter is so different from what's out there that I was instantly attracted to this book. The plot twists during the story are all well thought-out and written, the characters endearing, and it all comes together in what is an incredibly fun and interesting read!

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Jennifer E. Smith
Publication date: January 2nd 2012 by Poppy/Litte Brown
Rating: 5 stars

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Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

I... I don't even know?

Because this book is perfect?

And I loved it?

And I read it all in about three hours because I couldn't possibly set it down?

Hadley and Oliver meet at the airport after Hadley misses her flight for her dad's wedding. Oliver is British, handsome, and happens to be on the same flight as her to London. He's also pretty good at distracting her from her claustrophobia, making her laugh, and stealing whiskey from distracted flight attendants.

The entire story goes by during a period of 24 hours where Hadley spends the entire plane ride talking to Oliver, gets to where she's supposed to be, meets her new stepmother for the first time, and tries to mend her relationship with her father. The way the plot flows is absolutely amazing, involving you with what Hadley is going through and keeping you wondering if she'll ever see Oliver again.

It's a sweet story about family coming together and the statistical probability of love at first sight, which turns out to be great for everyone!

Review: The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Madman's Daughter
Megan Shepherd
Series: The Madman's Daughter #1
Publication date: January 29th 2013 by Balzer + Bray
Rating: 4 stars

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In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

I took a chance reading this book, considering I'm not a big fan of historical fiction or Gothic novels, but I'm kind of glad I did.

The Madman's Daughter started out slowly and a little bit hard to get into, but took a disturbingly turn for the best and it kept going until I was left wide eyed and gaping. It was full of mystery, intrigue, and secrets, but I guess that's what you get when you have a mad doctor stuck in an island and free to do whatever he wishes and experiment!

Juliet was a great character - smart, strong, and a little twisted and crazy when needed - expect for the times when she went along with what her father told her to do. He was the man who abandoned her and her mother in London to go to an island work on his experiments, using the islanders as his subjects. Her not lashing out and confronting him for not caring about what had happened to her after he ran away did not sit well with me.

As for Dr. Moreau, the author was able to portrait his madness brilliantly. Every time I read about the type of things he was doing to the people there, the way he talked about his work like it was some kind of gift to humanity, I got a little bit sick to my stomach - but in a good way! She as able to create some pretty grotesque scenarios that only made reading the story even more enjoyable.

The love triangle is also something worth mentioning, but that's because you can't really tell who Juliet is going to choose: Edward or Montgomery. I wasn't entirely on board with how things played out, because I thought the situation on the island was more important than who would win Juliet's heart, but it was still fun to read about her reacting to both boys. Especially with how things ended.

Overall, it was book that grasped my imagination and left me wanting to know what would happen next.

Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection
Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #1
Publication date: April 24th 2012 by HarperTeen
Rating: 3 stars


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For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

I don't really like comparing things, but with this books is just kind of impossible.

We have a The Bachelor/The Hunger Games crossover in our hands.

The world is divided by castes: from royalties, Ones, to those who have nothing, Eights. America is a Five, struggling to get by, but still pretty happy with here she is in live. She has her music, her boyfriend Aspen, a Six, who she's desperately in love with, and she has no desire to sign up for the Selection or be the queen.

That is until Aspen tells her to.

Because being part of the Selection comes with financial compensation, and America can't deny that her family needs the money. That Aspen's family needs the money. And that if they ever plan on getting married, they'll need some savings themselves. So she agrees, not knowing that decision would change her life forever.

The contest part of the book was nice, but then again, I'm a sucker for those kind of things. The entire story just sort of made me feel like I had read it all before, but I still found myself intrigued by some aspects of it. Like what is Marlee's secret is, what's the reason behinds the attacks to the royals, if America will figure out that Aspen treated her horribly...

Maybe that'll prompt me to read the sequel, but I'm not sure.

Review: When Summer Ends by Isabelle Rae

When Summer Ends
Isabelle Rae
Publication date: September 27th 2012 by CreateSpace
Rating: 3 stars

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Chloe Henderson has never been one to break the rules or push the boundaries… but during her summer break, she and her friends use fake IDs to sneak into a club. It’s there that she meets handsome and alluring bartender, Will Morris. The pair hit it off immediately, growing closer with every passing day. But as with every summer, it has to end sometime. 

Chloe’s senior year approaches and there’s a shock in store when she returns to do her final year at school. Will is there too, but he’s not one of her fellow students…

A tale of forbidden love, broken hearts, friendship, and rivalry.

This book is so full of sweet and cute I kind of wanted to throw up while reading it.

Chloe and Will had an immediate connection, and one of the things I liked about it was that Chloe didn't fight it. She didn't question her attraction to him like most of the other female characters in YA books, she embraced it and flirted shamelessly with him. And with that came the sweetness, reading about both of them getting to know each other and starting their relationship and being utterly happy, and disgustingly cute, with just being together.

But obviously that didn't last.

Something happened that forced Chloe and Will to take a step back from each other and their feelings to consider the bigger picture. That maybe being together wasn't what was best for them at that moment, and then having to learn how to deal with that decision. No need to say that part of the story was heartbreaking and it frustrated me to no end due to all the fillers and unnecessary plot devices to keep the story long and going.

I actually skipped some parts while reading it because I had no interest in wanting to know what was going on in Chloe's head. I was expecting more of it, to be honest.

Review: What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

What I Didn't Say
Keary Taylor
Publication date: April 30th 2012 by Createspace
Rating: 3 stars

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Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat. 

His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.

When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.

I have to say I was expecting more from this book.

As soon as I started reading it I knew it would be a sad one, and I was right. Reading about Jake having to learn how to live without being able to speak because of a stupid mistake he and his friends made made my heart ache. But then it gave me all kinds of warms feelings when he decided he wouldn't let this destroy him.

What I had a problem with was Sam and her situation. I can't really pinpoint what didn't sit well with me, but the whole deal with what happened to her and no one even realizing what was happening until Jake finds out was just... I don't know... It was iffy.

The end also felt a little bit confusing and too rushed compared to the pace of the rest of the story, but overall I quite enjoyed reading it.

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon

Anna Banks

Series: Of Poseidon #1

Publication date: May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel and Friends

Rating: 2 stars

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Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

I was expecting so much more from this book.

It started out so witty and funny and with so much potential that I thought it would definitely end up as one of my favorite books, but unfortunately, for me, the story didn't turn out to be that great after all. The writing was off, with the author making Emma's chapters in the first person and Galen's in the third. It made the transition from one POV to the other not as smooth as one would like to in a book, and the pace she set for the story was so terribly slow I struggled with my decision to seeing it to an end.

As for the characters, most of them annoyed the hell out of me. One of the reasons I couldn't enjoy the story more was because most of the time I was busy wanting to hit them in the head with a shovel. Emma's behavior towards Galen is very contradictory: one minute she wants to have nothing to do with him and the next she's wishing for him to kiss her. She also does the opposite of everything he wants just to spite him, and not really because she actually wants to. As for Galen, he doesn't really care about what Emma wants, doesn't take her seriously, and is too controlling. I just couldn't find myself rooting for them as a couple. I kind of wanted them to drawn in the ocean, really.

One of the goods things here, though, was all the mermaid lore. The author went very deep with her explanations and mythology about how the mermaids were in this universe, and that was amazing. I found that it was very interesting to read all about it, but it wasn't enough for me to like this book. I won't be reading the sequel.