Tuesday 30 April 2013

Wrecked (Clayton Falls #3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy




Wrecked Synopsis:
When your past catches up, it's time to stop running.

Jake Mathews messed up yet again— but this time his misstep lands him in the hospital. He wakes up to find the girl of his dreams and the memory of having his deepest secret revealed.

Emily Taylor needs a break. She's been working double shifts as a nurse just to pay the bills while trying to heal a broken heart. The last thing she needs is to fall for a patient.

Strapped with community service and the knowledge that he's disappointed everyone in his life, Jake is determined not to let Emily slip through his fingers. Emily wants Jake, but can she really open herself up to heartache again?

Author Bio
 :
Alyssa Rose Ivy is a Young Adult and New Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

My Review:
This is the 3rd book in the Clayton Falls series, so I knew a little about Jake, but it was nothing compared to what we learnt about him in this book. The book starts off with a bang, and I loved that it did not stop right until the very end. Jake has made some choices in life that are not the greatest of decisions, and one major one is revealed at the beginning of this book, and that is when all the drama starts.
When he is in the hospital we are introduced to his nurse Emily, who is on the night shift when he is brought in, and because of situations that have occurred in her past, she is very much put off by Jake and what has happened, however, she feels drawn to him at the same time, and she is confused and not happy that this is happening. Jake seems determined to make an impression on Emily and have her go out on a date with him, and he can be very charismatic when he needs to be. We see them start to date and everything seems to be going okay, however, we know that Emily is hiding something, and we do not find out till later what that something is. I really enjoyed how Alyssa did this and kept us wondering on who or what this is because it gave us even more reason to keep reading. 
During the duration of this novel, we see both of the main characters step put of their comfort zone in big ways, and we were able to see them grow together in a very realistic non fairytale way, and this is one of the things that I love about Alyssa's work, she is able to see that there are going to be bumps in the road that people have to work through, and instead of jumping right over them, she attacks them head on and is able to show that sometimes life is not perfect, and it shouldn't be because everything that is important to you should be worth fighting for and working through those bumps.
I have been privileged enough to read the three Clayton Falls novels, and I have loved every single one of them, Alyssa is able to pull at my heart strings just enough to make me feel empathy for the characters, but at the same time I am not put in to a "book depression" reading her work, it is the absolute perfect amount of drama and love for me, and she has become the go to author for me for when I am in need of these kinds of novels, even over Nora Roberts who was my go to, so in my eyes that is a HUGE accomplishment, and I want to thank her for her work, and I cannot wait to read more, and I wish her all the success in the world, and will do what I can to make sure more people are reading her work.


Wednesday 10 April 2013

White Lines by Jennifer Banash


Published: April 4 2013 by Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 304

White lines is a story about a girl named Cat who is a 17 year old club kid in 1980's New York. This book engrossed me from the very beginning, and I could not put it down. We find out at the beginning that due to different circumstances in her past she finds herself living alone at her young age, and she is trying to manage going to school and also being a club promoter.

The way Jennifer was able to detail everything down to the last detail was tremendous, especially when it came to the "white lines", I have never done that myself, but I feel like I don't need (or want) to now after reading this. She was able to describe the sensation of the high and the side effects from it in such a way that I felt like I was there with her, and I think that is something that is not easy to do.

I felt connected to Cat on some levels and I could understand why she was doing what she was doing even if I didn't agree with her, or would not make the same choices in her situation. Her Mother is probably one of my most hated characters in a fictional novel, and once you read this book, I would guarantee that you will agree with me, I cannot understand her at all, and there were many times during the book that I wanted to choke her for her actions, and I love when I get emotional like that while reading.

As far as the club kid scene goes, I loved the different kids for all different reasons, but one of my favourite parts was the outfits! Did that ever take me back to the 80's, oh how I do not miss the neon (even though apparently it is coming back?), and she got them bang on too, who remembers wearing a lot of tulle and lace, oh and the spandex with the elastic at the bottom to go under your feet? I do! 

This is not a book that I will forget any time soon, there are so many different and serious topics covered that I think it should be a mandatory read for teenagers (starting in grade 9). The first one that comes to mind is the fact that I think way too many kids are having to grow up way to soon and have their teenage years and what should be "normal" teenage experiences taken away from them, and the serious consequences that it can have. The next is drug abuse and how a lot of people think that the "have it under control", and it is not by any means, the drugs are the ones in control.

I liked this book from front to back, and even the ending is not the "hollywood happy ever after" that can sometimes happen, I think it is a very realistic ending and I am so grateful that Jennifer wrote it that way. If you are looking for a more serious novel about what some kids are going through around the world on a daily basis, this is it! Fantastic 5/5 from me!

Saturday 6 April 2013

Chasing Mrs. Right (Come Undone #2) By Katee Robert


Published: March 25 2013 by Entangled Publishing
Pages: 263

This was the second in Katee's Come Undone series, however, I did not read the first one, and it did not take away from this book at all, it is not a series that you have to necessarily read in order, although I will be trying to get a hold of book 1 as I really enjoyed this one.

The story starts off with us meeting Ian who has just returned home from his second tour in Afghanistan and instead of being able to go home and sleep and try to relax, his sister has arranged a coming home party for him. It turns out that he needs to leave early as there are too many people and different noises for him as he seems to be suffering from a form of PTSD, and just trying to get use to a "normal" life back at home after being in a war environment I would imagine is extremely difficult. 

When he leaves the party he literally runs in to Roxanne and knocks her over, this is how they first meet. Neither of them realise at the beginning that they are connected by someone that they both care about, and their chance meeting is supposed to be one night of bliss before they both move on. 

I really liked the characters in this book, Roxanne has a great personality, but she seems to have a lock on her heart because of situations in her past, and things that her Mother has tried to ingrain in her, even if they are not right. Ian has his issues for sure, but he is also brutally honest in what he wants, and really puts Roxanne to the test in trying to get it.

The thing that I love about these books is that they put real life situations in with the romance and steaminess. It just makes you connect with the story a little more, to make it an enjoyable experience. We see the characters in this book struggle with their own issues, but also try to support each other at the same time with what the other is going through, and the relationship is not perfect, but we do see it grow and I am happy with how it turned out at the end.

I have a feeling I am going to really enjoy the Entangled Brazen collection if it is going to be carrying authors like Katee as this was a perfect Sunday night with a coffee read! I give it a 4/5.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Belong To You (A Cole Novel, Book One) by Vi Keeland




Published: April 4th 2013 by Create Space

***Disclaimer: This is an Adult Erotica Novel, I am putting the disclaimer as I do have some reviews on my                       blog that are in the YA genre***

This is the first in a new series from Vi and I am really looking forward to the rest in the series if they are going to be anything like this one. The story is based around Sydney and her friend Sienna going on Sydney's honeymoon as the trip had already been paid for, but the engagement was broken off a couple months before because of her ex-fiance cheating. Sydney and Sienna have known each other for almost all of their lives, and are best friends, I really enjoyed their personalities and they had me laughing out loud a few times.

When they get to their destination they are having dinner together and they are sent drinks from a gentleman that they do not know, who is with a group of his friends, and that is when we meet Jack, and he is the perfect specimen of a man! We come to know that he is there with his friends for a bachelor party, and that works out well because it turns out that Sienna is interested in Jack's friend Tyler, and I am hoping that their story is next!

It is not long before we see Sydney and Jack off together and you can feel the chemistry between them right from the beginning, and it is hot! The only other books I have read in this genre were the office romance kind of ones, so for me it was really refreshing to read something outside the office, with the beaches, and nice hotel rooms. I was captivated by this story, and read it straight through in one sitting, and was sad when it ended because I wanted more, I did not see that ending coming so soon.

Jack is the kind of man that when you are dating him he wants everyone to know it, and is on the possessive side when seeing you talking to other guys. Also he has some issues with his father from his past, and the story goes a little in depth with that as well, and there is a twist where Sydney is put in the middle of it. Overall I really enjoyed this book for everything it had in it, the storyline, characters, romance, steamy scenes, I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for a weekend read, a 4/5 in my books.



Tuesday 2 April 2013

Velveteen by Daniel Marks


Published: October 9 2012
Pages: 464

Let me just start off saying that I am incredibly thankful that I was able to read this book, I LOVED IT! From beginning to end, I stayed up all night reading it, could not put it down. Once I have read a book I don't typically read any reviews on it until I have written my own as I don't want anyone else's opinion in my head at all, however, for some reason with this one I did read some, and I was surprised at what I read in some of them. I know everyone has their own opinion and that is awesome, but I thought I would do this review a little differently and put in some of what I read on other reviews, and what I thought about it.

So it sounds like some people were looking for more "grit and gore", but for me it was perfect, I am not a fan of horror at all, I can never sleep after for days! But Daniel gave me just enough of the creep factor that I cringed a few times while reading it, but I was still able to sleep and not dream about Bonesaw and what he could possibly do to me. The other thing I noticed is some were not happy with the take that he had on purgatory because it did not seem "realistic" enough, to me that just does not sound right as who really knows what purgatory looks like, or how it is operated? I love when an author will take something that we think we know about and twist it and make me believe that it could totally be something different.

I have heard a lot of other bloggers talk lately about how some books in the YA section are getting "watered down" because it seems to be the same story over and over, or at least the same kind of plot line, and I  am so happy to say that this is not the case in Velveteen by any means. I love Velvet, and I think I would want to be just like her if I were in the same situation, she was kidnapped and murderer by the psycho named Bonesaw, and instead of going fully to "the other side" she gets stuck in purgatory, and rather than feel sorry for herself, she seeks revenge on Bonesaw any way that she can. She crosses back and forth between our world and purgatory and terrorises him as much as she can, and I would have to say that these were some of my favourite parts to read because it is hilarious what she does.

I also loved meeting all the other characters in the book, even the ones that annoyed me to no end, they each brought something to the book to give it colour for sure. I think that is what a book should have, when you are reading, you want it to effect you and make you think and feel, and this book did all that for me. If you are looking for a book to give you the creeps but also a great story, this one is for you, I highly recommend it!