(ARC) Book Review (295):Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty

by Rosamund Hodge

Publication: 28th January 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 352

Genre: Fantasy

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble+The Book Depository

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

My Thoughts.

Cruel Beauty is a 2014 debut novel by Rosamund Hodge.

Described as Beauty And The Beast crossed with Graceling, this was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year, unfortunately it didn't quite hit the mark, maybe my expectations were too high I don't really know, it was still good, just not as good as I'd built it up in my head that it was going to be.

I have to start by saying that Beauty And The Beast is my all time favorite Disney movie, so anytime that there is a  book I find that's described as a retelling you can bet your ass that I'll be all over it, I think what had me disappointed in this book is that I got bored, it was too long and whenever I put the book down I wasn't ever in a rush to pick it back up again.

I didn't really find any of the characters that likeable, maybe Shade and that was about it, I find once you discover no redeeming qualities in the lead characters, you're not going to find it that enjoyable, that may have been another problem I had with this book too.

The concept was a great idea, that was another reason that I was initially drawn to to this book as well as the gorgeous cover, if the story had of been a lot shorter I'm sure I would have liked it a whole lot more.

I would still recommend this to fans of fantasy and fairy tale retellings, as this seems to be rating very well on Goodreads, unfortunately it wasn't really for me.

I give this 3/5 stars.

When my older brother was thirteen, he started a writing club with his friends and wouldn’t let me join because I was only eight. I promptly swore that I would become a writer and make him sorry.

He still isn’t sorry. (I checked.) But in 2014 I will publish my first novel with Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins, so I guess everything worked out okay.

Some other facts about me:

• I practice Shorinji Kempo, a Japanese martial art based on Shaolin Kung Fu.

• Cruel Beauty is my debut novel, but it is somewhere between the third and sixth that I ever completed, depending on how you count things. (There was the 40,000-word mess I called a novel when I was sixteen, and the 220,000-word mess I briefly pretended was a single novel in 2009.)

• NaNoWriMo changed my life and got me finishing novels again after a long hiatus. But Cruel Beauty is not a NaNoWriMo novel. (The NaNoWriMo project that changed everything was the 220,000-word mess. Someday I may even revise it.)

• I grew up as a homeschooler in Los Angeles, and I spent my childhood marinating in Greek mythology, which is where all the Greek elements in Cruel Beauty come from.

• Then I got a B.A. in English at the University of Dallas, and an M.St. in Medieval English at Oxford. Naturally, I moved to Seattle and got a job with computers.

• I have studied five languages (Spanish, French, Latin, Old Norse, and Japanese), though sadly I am still not able to speak any of them.

• I love some things more than T. S. Eliot’s poetry. But not many things.

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(ARC) Book Review (294): Wulfe Untamed (Feral Warriors #8) - Pamela Palmer

Wulfe Untamed (Feral Warriors #8)

by Pamela Palmer

Publication: 28th January 2014
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 384
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age Appropriate: Adult
Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble+The Book Depository

They are called Feral Warriors—an elite band of immortals who can change shape at will. Sworn to rid the world of evil, consumed by sorcery and seduction, their wild natures are primed for release...

The most enigmatic and tortured of the Feral Warriors, Wulfe is haunted by the quiet beauty of a human woman who no longer remembers him. Once a captive of both the Mage and the Ferals, Natalie stole a piece of his heart before he took her memories and sent her safely back to her fiancé. But now the Mage are threatening her again, and Wulfe will risk anything to protect her.

Natalie Cash is stunned when she's saved by a wolf who shifts suddenly into a splendidly built, if badly scarred, man, a man with the kindest eyes. Swept into a world of intrigue and danger beyond her comprehension, she turns to the powerful Wulfe, finding a passion she'd only dreamed of. But when time runs out, they must trust one another and surrender to a wild, untamed love.

My Thoughts.

Wulfe Untamed is the eighth and final book in the Feral Warriors series by Pamela Palmer.

Unfortunately this series is coming to a close, and while I've heard that there will be a spin-off of sorts it's still sad to say goodbye to these characters that I've grown to love.

Palmer has saved the best for last, an intense, action packed, suspense filled story that is a perfect finale to this fantastic series, that just got better with each and every instalment.

I've been highly anticipating Wulfe's story, and I'm happy to say that I was not left disappointed, I had a feeling when Natalie first appeared in this series that she would end up becoming Wulfe's mate, the chemistry was there right from the start, and she was attracted to him scars and all.

The warriors make their final stand against Inir and Satanan, as the warriors try to gain back their immortality and reclaim the animal spirits that have been tainted by evil and restore them to the future feral warriors and to stop Satanan's escape from the Daemon Blade.

I really enjoyed the epilogue at the end of the book, it gave us an insight into the future and I liked what I read, it was a really nice touch.

For fans of paranormal romances featuring shifters, especially series length then these are the books for you, I highly recommend you pick these books up.

A wonderful end to an incredibly entertaining series.

I give this 5/5 stars.

Pamela Palmer is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Feral Warriors shape-shifter series, the Esri Series, and (coming in 2012) the Vamp City series. Raised in an Air Force family, Pamela lived in eleven different houses by the time she was fourteen. The two constants in her life—her family and her imagination. When her initial career goal of captaining starships didn't pan out, she turned to engineering, satisfying her desire for adventure with books and daydreams until finally succumbing to the need to create worlds of her own. Pamela now calls the suburbs of Washington, D.C. home.

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Book Review (293): Always You - Missy Johnson

Always You

by Missy Johnson

Publication: 17th December 2013

Publisher: Self Published

Pages: 253

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Appropriate: New Adult

Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble

I was thrilled when I was offered a graduate teaching position at the prestigious Tennerson Girls Academy. At twenty-three, this would be my first ‘real’ teaching assignment. Working at the elite boarding school, home to the daughters of some of the wealthiest people in the world, was a great opportunity that I would’ve been stupid to pass up. 

One week into my new job, and I suddenly had no idea why I chose high school…I was a seventeen year old boy once, I knew how teenage girls behaved. 

You can’t even imagine the hell of trying to teach thirty, hormonal driven seventeen year olds who have been cooped up, away from any male contact. 

I could handle the whispers every time I entered the room. I could even handle the obvious attempts at gaining my attention. What I couldn’t handle was her… 


Rich bitches and way too many rules. Was it any wonder that I hated school? 

Add to that the lack of male contact, and I was going insane. Like literally. I wasn’t used to this. A year ago I was normal. I had a boyfriend, friends and a loving family. There is nothing normal about me anymore, and nobody here lets me forget that. 

My name is Wrenn, and I’m only here because my aunt took me in after what happened, but my aunt also happens to be the headmistress of this academy…Can you see my problem? 

I’m hated for my lack of money, and I’m hated for who my Aunt is. 

Then he arrived. Dalton Reed. My new history teacher. 

Slowly, he helped me see that even in the worst situations, there is always hope.

My Thoughts.

I loooved this book!

This book was so amazing, easily one of my favourite new adult contemporary romances, what I loved most was the fact that it wasn't your ordinary happily ever after, and because of that it felt so real and different from most others out there.

I've always been intrigued by student/teacher romances, probably a sense of the forbidden that keeps  my curiosity piqued and this is a fantastic one.

When sexy and gorgeous Dalton starts a new job as a History teacher at an all girls school he has no idea what he's getting himself into, with a betting pool going around with the first girl to kiss Dalton to win a thousand dollars he's very popular indeed.

When he sees Wrenn in class he's immediately drawn to her with the feeling that he knows her from somewhere, she's not like the other girls who throw themselves at him and they slowly develop a friendship that turns into a forbidden relationship that neither one nor the other wants to have end.

When Wrenn discovers the secret that Dalton has been hiding ,will it tear them apart for good and end the relationship before it's really even started?

Such a well written story with well developed characters and a great plot, I read this in one sitting such a fast and quick read, I couldn't get through the pages fast enough.

This was the first book of Missy's that I've ever read but it most certainly won't be the last.

Highly recommended!

I give this 5/5 stars.

About Missy Johnson

Missy lives in a small town in Central Victoria with her husband, and her confused pets (a dog who think she’s a cat, a cat who thinks he’s a dog…you get the picture).
When she’s not writing, she can usually be found looking for something to read.

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(ARC) Book Review (292): First Love - James Patterson

First Love

by James Patterson

Publication: 13th January 2014
Publisher: Little, Brown And Company
Pages: 288
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble+The Book Depository

Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone that what she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson--who she also happens to be madly in love with.

When Axi impulsively invites Robinson to come with her on an unplanned cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out-of-control...

A remarkably moving tale with its origins in James Patterson's own past,First Love is testament to the power of first love--and how it can change the rest of your life.

My Thoughts.

*SOB* OMG OMG *SOB* OMG!
So I think both Little, Brown and Kleenex need to get together to promote this book, tissues trust me you'll need them!

How can I put into words how brilliant, heart-breaking. emotionally devastating and amazingly fantastic this book is, I can't unless you experience this book for yourselves you just wont understand, it's so much more than those words, the thought that it's based on a real -life story from James Patterson's life makes it even more meaningful and heartfelt.

Jeez this book made me cry, halfway through is when the tears started, towards the end is when the ugly crying started, and that to me is the work of a fantastic storyteller, one who has you caring about the characters so much that you're left emotionally bereft at the end.

I've never read a James Patterson book before, but after reading First Love that is definitely going to change, this book has rocketed up into my list of all-time favorites, a really great contemporary romance based around a road trip with two best friends Axi and Robinson, who will finally admit their feelings for one another in amidst their hijnks during their time on the road, while realising that sometimes life will take a turn that you would never anticipate.

I don't want to write too much and give the plot away, but all you contemporary romance fans need to pick this book up, it's amazing, a quick and fast read that's never boring and will keep you glued to the pages up till the very end.

Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Highly recommended.

I give this 5/5 stars.

It is no surprise that in January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having "transformed book publishing," and that Time magazine hailed him as "The Man Who Can't Miss." Recently, NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams profiled Patterson's prolific career, AARP named him one of the "50 Most Influential People Who Make Our Days a Little Brighter," and Variety featured him in a cover story highlighting his adventures in Hollywood.

In 2011, it was estimated that one-in-four of all hardcover suspense/thriller novels sold was written by James Patterson, he is the first author to achieve ten million ebook sales, and he holds the Guinness record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers of any author. And his success isn't based solely on thrillers like the perennially popular Alex Cross,Women's Murder Club and Michael Bennett series. Patterson is now also the current bestselling author in the young adult and middle grade categories.

He's been called the busiest man in publishing, and that's not just because of his own books. For the past decade, James has been devoting more and more of his time to championing books and reading.

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(ARC) Book Review (291): Into The Still Blue (Under The Never Sky #3) - Veronica Rossi

Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

by Veronica Rossi

Publication: 28th January 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 400
Genre: Dystopian
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble+The Book Depository

The earth-shattering conclusion to Veronica Rossi's "masterpiece" Under the Never Sky trilogy and sequel to the New York Timesbestselling Through the Ever Night (Examiner.com).

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.

The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her stunning Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close.

My Thoughts.

Into The Still Blue is the third and the final book in the Under The Never Sky trilogy by Veronica Rossi.

What a truly epic conclusion to this amazing series.

Giving us a finale that should please everybody, entertaining, suspenseful and adventurous, filled with the characters we've grown to love centre stage.

What this series has been striving towards from the very first page of Under The Never Sky comes to a head as Perry and Aria attempt to make it to the Still Blue, away from the Aether filled skies that are destroying The Tides land and edging ever closer to the cave where they've all had to relocate.

With Cinder missing and Roar away dealing with his grief and the group of former dwellers now inhabiting a part of the cave unwilling to associate with the 'savages', it's time for them to come together to defeat the evil Blood-Lord Sable and defeat him once and for all.

I love Perry and Aria's relationship, they are stronger as a couple than apart, and there's nothing that they wouldn't do for one another.

One of the many things I adore about this series is the platonic relationship between Roar and Aria, it's a highlight of these books, I would love perhaps either a novella or book just to give Roar his well deserved happily-ever-after, easily one of if not my favorite character of the series, I loved any scene that he appeared in, and I want more!

As sad as I am to see the end of this series, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect ending, although that's not without the loss of some much loved characters, one in particular that tears at the heart and left me with tears in the eyes.

I look forward to whatever Veronica releases next, she is a definite auto-buy author for me and I await with baited breath her next book.

I can't praise this book/series highly enough, this is one of my all time favorite dystopias.

Definitely check this series out.

I give this 5/5 stars.

bio

Veronica Rossi is the author of post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, UNDER THE NEVER SKY, is the first in a trilogy. Released in January 2012, it was deemed one of the Best Books of Year by School Library Journal. The second book in the trilogy, THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT, debuted in January on the NY Times and USA Today Best Seller Lists. The final book in the series, INTO THE STILL BLUE, is expected to release January 2014.

Foreign rights to the UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy have sold in over twenty-five territories to date and film rights have been optioned by Warner Bros.

She completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and then went on to study fine art at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons. When not writing, she enjoys reading, painting, and counting down the minutes until she can get back to making up stories about imaginary people. 

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Book Review (290): After Eden (After Eden #1) - Helen Douglas

After Eden (After Eden #1)

by Helen Douglas

Publication: 1st January 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 288

Genre: Science-Fiction/Time-Travel

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Read the Prologue and the first chapter here.

Eden Anfield loves puzzles, so when mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school she's hooked. On the face of it, he's a typical American teenager. So why doesn't he recognise pizza? And how come he hasn't heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden the most, however, is the interest he's taking in her. 

As Eden starts to fall in love with Ryan, she begins to unravel his secret. Her breakthrough comes one rainy afternoon when she stumbles across a book in Ryan's bedroom - a biography of her best friend - written over fifty years in the future. Confronting Ryan, she discovers that he is there with one unbelievably important purpose ... and she might just have destroyed his only chance of success.

My Thoughts.

After Eden is the first book in the After Eden series by Helen Douglas.

This book is very reminiscent of Twilight, actually very much so, the similarities are astounding, almost the same kind of storyline with a few tweaks here and there to not make it an exact copy, but when you're as big a fan as I am (Twilight is my favourite series) you will definitely notice.

That's not to say that's it's a bad book, on the contrary I did actually enjoy it and finished it in a matter of hours, and I will carry on with the rest of the series although I do feel this book could have been a stand-alone, I don't think you really need to carry on the story when it all seemed to be wrapped up in After Eden.

One difference in this book is the focus on time-travel and astronomy, and the way that one person can make a difference to the fate of any one thing, good or bad.

Thumbs-up for the concept, it was different from what's around at the moment and I quite enjoyed the characters as well, I liked Eden and Ryan as a couple, they fit well together and I was invested in them and had my fingers crossed that it would all work out for them, I also was a fan of the supporting characters, especially Connor and Megan.

If you like a bit of time-travel mixed with a bit of astronomy then pick this up, actually you don't really need to be a fan particularly of any of those things, it's a quick, enjoyable read.

I look forward to the second book.

I give this 3.5/5 stars.

I was born in a small beach town in Cornwall, much like the fictional town of Perran that appears in After Eden. As a child I enjoyed reading, building dens and writing stories of my own. My teenage years were centred around the beach. Summer days were spent swimming and body-boarding. Summer nights meant beach parties with bonfires and barbecues. When it rained, which it did a lot, I read lots of books and dreamed of being a writer.

After leaving school, I lived in many different places including London, California, New York and New Jersey. I’m now back in Cornwall where I live midway between the woods and the beach. When the sky is clear, I can usually be found walking in the woods, hanging out at the beach or looking at the stars.  When the sea mist rolls in or it’s raining, I spend my time reading books, writing and dreaming up my next story.

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Book Highlight & Giveaway: The Forgotten Ones - Laura Howard

Title: The Forgotten Ones
Author: Laura Howard
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Series: The Danaan Trilogy #1
Published: April 28, 2013

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

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Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

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