Veer (Clayton Falls #2) by Alyssa Rose Ivy



Published: November 29 2012 by CreateSpace
Pages: 286
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16031807-veer

Veer starts off a few months after Derailed left off with Molly and Ben, and in Veer we are seeing Becca's story come to life, she is Molly's best friend from law school that you will remember from the first book. The book starts off with Becca driving to Clayton Falls for the summer to spend time with Molly, and on the way there, her car stalls and will not start, and she is on the side of a long road by herself, and her cell phone has no signal. Someone happens to be driving by, and it turns out that it is Gavin, and he lets her know that he is a police officer, and convinces her that he will take her in to town to Molly's house, and during the drive she gets to see some of his charming personality (sarcasm?.....ABSOLUTELY!).

Becca decides to spend the summer with Molly in Clayton Falls and work at the local law offices as unfortunately her Mother has passed away after a long illness, and she has no other family, and Molly is the closest friend that she has. She is not sure if coming to town is the best thing after a few days as her first week has left not the greatest of impressions on her as far as the people around town, but she does decide to stay for the remainder of the summer anyways.

She easily makes friends with Molly's other friends in town, especially Jake (who is Ben's brother) who she is able to hang out with and watch movies and stuff. The only person that she is not able to make friends with easily is Gavin, and she is unsure as to why, it seems that every time they try to have a conversation it turns in to an argument of some sort.

The same things that I loved about book #1 were brought over in to this novel as well, I got that Nora Roberts feel again, but with more realistic histories with the characters that they have to try and work through. As the summer goes on, you get to see how Becca grows, and also you get to see the relationship between her and Gavin change slowly but surely, and it is a wonderful journey.

So if I have not made it clear already, this series is a smash for me, and I am so excited to see what happens in book #3. Absolute 5/5 and if you are a fan of the new adult genre, or even contemporary romance, this is a series that is not to be missed, I stayed up all night reading these books, I started at about 10 PM and thought I would just get them started, and did not go to bed till the next morning when I was finished with both of them.

Derailed (Clayton Falls #1) by Alyssa Rose Ivy

 

Published: September 23 2012 by CreateSpace Independant Publishing Platform

Pages: 260

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15755372-derailed

 

Derailed is about a girl named Molly whom feels lost in life I think, her father has passed away, her Mother is living with her sister and her family, and her fiance also passed away.  She is in law school when the story first starts, and the decision to change her life comes within the first couple of pages and that is not the last of the big decisions that she has to make within the book. I really loved the way that Molly grew in to herself through the book, and at the end really seemed comfortable in her own shoes, even if it was a completely different spot than she thought she would be in.

 

I will say that I got a Nora Roberts feel from the writing (which to me is a good thing as she is one of my favourite romance authors), but there was even more depth to the characters in Alyssa's novels that I have read, they have been through more real life experiences and she talk about the feelings that they have because of this more than I find in Nora's novels.

 

One of my favourite parts of Alyssa's writing is that nothing comes easy to the characters, they have to work at it, or they really think through any decisions that they make, and there is no "insta-love", it actually goes along at a normal pace that relationships typically do. Also her portrail of the small town life, I know that it is not for everyone, but I will tell you, I wish I could live in Clayton Falls! It is the perfect setting for someone to go and relax and sort through what they need to as far as what to do with the rest of your life.

 

Let's go in to the men in the novel now....let me just say yum!!! So there is Ben, and he is Molly's old boyfriend from before she left town to go to law school, and he has his own issues sure, but he is very good looking, and his personality is pretty good too. Then there is Gavin, he is attractive sure, but talk about egotistical and overbearing! I did not like his character at all in this book, he was WAY to pushy and would refuse to take no for an answer, even when Molly made it quite clear.

 

I was really happy with the way that this book ended, and it could read like a stand alone for sure, but I am so glad that it is not so that I get to go back and visit these characters again with a new story. So overall, this is for sure a 5/5 for me, one of my favourite new adult novels hands down!

 



The Magic of Finkleton by K.C. Hilton

Published by: CreateSpace

Pages: 181

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10316626-the-magic-of-finkleton

I was very generously given a copy of this book by K.C. Hilton, and I cannot thank her enough! I highly recommend this for anyone to be honest, I don't think that you have to be a child to enjoy this story.

This story revolves around a family that inherits their Uncle's store (like a general store) and have to move to a town called Finkleton. When they arrive there, the children (Jack, Lizzy and Robert) start to realise that there is something a little off about this town, and they connect it back to the store, and as they start to uncover the clues one after the other, they do put it all together and are amazed at what they figure out.

The writing in this book is wonderful, it is set in England and although it does not specifically say, I believe it to be maybe in the late 40's or early 50's just based on the behaviour and the conversations that the characters have with each other. I love the little things that the author put in there to keep to that area and time period, for example instead of using the word "glasses" (as in reading glasses) she uses "spectacles", things like that won me over through the whole book over and over again.

I also really enjoyed the way that the siblings interacted with each other as they did not get along 100% of the time, which let's be honest is reality, especially in the younger years. I would have to say that my favourite character was Robert the youngest child, I really liked his personality and the way that he was very independent and wanted to figure everything out on his own.

So to wrap up and stop all of my gushing, I highly recommend this series to anyone, and am really looking forward to the other 2 books in the series. A 5/5 for me for sure! Thank you again K.C. I feel honoured to have received your package.

Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks

Published by: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 340

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9781310-safe-haven

This is a fantastic light read, it is good to get a break from all the books I have been reading with a lot of heavy topics.

Katie is a really great strong character, I admire her strength to get through what she did, and is still able to come out of it and live a somewhat normal life. At the beginning of the novel we come to understand why Katie acts the way that she does, and why she keeps to herself.

I really liked Alex as well, he is a very genuine man, willing to help anyone that he can. I loved getting to know the relationship that he has with his children, and how they rely on each other.

The only part of this book that I would have liked to have seen changed would have been when the "I love you's" were exchanged, I felt it was incredibly early, and I think it would have suited the end of the book perfectly with the events that went on there, it would have made it a perfect romance novel for me.

As far as romance novels go for me, this is a 4/5, and I cannot wait to see it on the big screen, the actors chosen look like they will make it a good movie.

Life Of The Party by Christine Anderson

Published by: Smashwords

Pages: 488

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15710024-life-of-the-party

First off, all I can think of to say is this book takes you for a ride! It started at a medium pace, and then it picked up, and didn't really stop right until the end.

It is filled with a lot of mature content as far as drug use, so just as a caution for someone younger reading this blog post, or if it is something that you are not interested in reading about, you may want to pass this one by.

This book follows a girl named Mackenzie, and it starts with her close to her last year of high school, and follows her and her friends that live in a small town.  Mac (Mackenzie) is not the most social of characters, and really sticks to the small group of friends that she has, until one night that they go to a club and she meets the singer of the band that is playing Grey.

From that point on, she starts on a journey that will bring her to a place that some may describe as hell on earth. You can tell from the beginning of the book that she does have the addictive personality, and she is really not afraid of trying any new kind of drug, which is not a good thing. 

At the beginning of the book her friends and Mac are involved with things like weed, mushrooms, and some of the basic kinds of drugs, which in some social circles is considered normal. Then the night she meets Grey, her best friend Riley has a really bad trip on mushrooms, and has hallucinations, and feels as though he is going to die, and she has to sit with him all night and try to assure him that it is all going to turn out ok. From that point on Riley has decided that he is not going to be doing anymore drugs, and also decides to quit smoking as he sees what it is doing to him. It puts a significant strain on their relationship as he will no longer go to the places that he would before as he knew what was going to be taking place, and knew that if he went he would cave and start doing drugs again.

From that moment forward Mac puts herself in to situations where all different kinds of drugs are available, and it is not just the basics anymore. The author has found a way to show how easy it can really be for someone to follow down that road, and is able to portray a level of denial that a true addict will have that everything is ok, they have it managed, and they can quit whenever they want. I don't really want to give anymore of the story away as I truly believe that it is something that you must read and experience for yourself. This is quite a heavy topic, but I think that anyone who is interested in reading about different real life situations would truly appreciate it.  For sure a 5/5 for me!

Penthouse Man by Kea Noli

Published by: Independent Author International

Pages: 100

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15851344-penthouse-man

I received a an ecopy of this book from the author in trade for an honest review.

I was really hoping to like this more than I did, for me it was not the writing, it was more not being able to connect with any of the characters. I could not connect to the main character and how she was in love with her sister's husband, and the things that she did to her sister with the letter and everything, I just cannot imagine doing that to my own sister, so that is where the disconnect happened.

As far as some of the other characters, the way that they spoke to each other, especially when they were family was just beyond my comprehension! I have not been around a mother and daughter that spoke to each other that way, and I am sure that it happens, not every mother-daughter relationship is perfect, I understand that, but it just did not sit well with me.

This kind of story is just not my cup of tea unfortunately.

Y by Marjorie Celona

Published by: Hamish Hamilton Canada
Pages: 288
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13489087-y

This is going to be a hard review for me, I was really excited to win this book, and I had high expectations for it, but for some reason, I could not connect with any of the characters, and I did not enjoy it.  It was not the writing by any means, it was beautiful, I think it was mostly the main character, maybe because I have not been through the same things that she had, and I could not understand where she was coming from.

The story starts off with Shannon being left abandoned at the YMCA doors by her mother Yula. Throughout the book we see her journey through childhood and then in to her teenage years, and how she is bounced around from house to home until she lands at one that finally becomes her home.

In between some of Shannon's chapters we also get to see some of the events leading up to Yula's decision to leave Shannon at the YMCA, I did enjoy that part of the story more than Shannon's story for some reason. Yula definitely did not have it easy, and was without a mother figure in her life at that point herself to help her through the tough decisions.

Shannon does eventually go in search of her biological parents, and it does take her on quite a journey with some new characters. The part of this book that made it a 3 star instead of 2 is the ending, I am so use to authors making it that "happily ever after" endings in fictional novels, that I was very happy to see the "realistic" ending, not a good or bad, just something that you can see happening in real life, it is just the way some things work out sometimes.

I know that I am one of the few that did not give this book a 4 or 5 star rating, but it just was not worth that to me, I did finish it, but I have taken a few days to think about it, and it is just not one of those books that I fell in love with, or could not put down.