Sunday, 9 February 2014

(ARC) Book Review (303): The Secret Diamond Sisters (The Secret Diamond Sisters #1) - Michelle Madow


The Secret Diamond Sisters (The Secret Diamond Sisters #1)

Publication: 25th February 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 382
Genre: Contemporary
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Savannah. Courtney. Peyton. 

The three sisters grew up not knowing their father and not quite catching a break. But it looks like their luck is about to change when they find out the secret identity of their long-lost dad—a billionaire Las Vegas hotel owner who wants them to come live in a gorgeous penthouse hotel suite. Suddenly the Strip's most exclusive clubs are all-access, and with an unlimited credit card each, it should be easier than ever to fit right in. But in a town full of secrets and illusion, fitting in is nothing compared to finding out the truth about their past.
My Thoughts.
The Secret Diamond Sisters is the first book in Michelle Madow's all new young adult trilogy of the same name.

Having been a fan of Michelle's already after reading her Transcend Time trilogy (check it out it's fantastic) I was eager to get my hands on a copy of this book, from the cover to the synopsis it sounded right up my alley, and I'm happy to say that I loved it!

How amazing would it be to discover that after living a life with an alcoholic Mother and no money that your absentee Father happens to be a billionaire, one of the richest men in America, and that you'll be going to stay with him in the penthouse apartment at his hotel/casino, with a blamex (black american express credit card) in hand, your own bodyguard and invitations to the best parties, well that's what happens to Peyton, Courtney and Savannah after their Mom is sent to rehab.

At first in awe but also at the same time confused and hurt that their Father has ignored them for so long they find themselves suddenly plunged into a world alien to them, where social standing is important and business can be made and broken by the behaviour of a family member.

No one takes to their new lives more so than the youngest Savannah, who takes to her new life like she had always been in this world, of course this wouldn't be a contemporary without a bit of romance, and it's in abundance here with all three sisters finding themselves with crushes some deemed inappropriate for the new society they find themselves in.

I'm very intrigued to discover just what it is that their Father Adrian is hiding from them, and just what this secret means to the girls and how it will affect them, and I'm looking forward to see how all the various relationships will end up.

A great contemporary filled with all the things I love: great plotline, characters and fantastic writing.

I eagerly anticipate the second book to see what happens next with the Diamond sisters.

I give this 5/5 stars.


Michelle Madow wrote her first novel, Remembrance, in her junior year of college. Remembrance is the first book in the Transcend Time Saga, a three part series about reincarnation and true love that Michelle successfully self-published. The series was inspired by Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video. Michelle's upcoming YA trilogy, The Secret Diamond Sisters, about three sisters who discover they are the secret heirs to a Las Vegas billionaire casino owner, will be published by Harlequin TEEN in Spring 2014.

Michelle graduated from Rollins College in 2010, cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the International English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta. She received the Charles Hyde Pratt Award for Excellence in Creative Writing in 2010.

She lives in Boca Raton, Florida, where she is writing more novels for young adults. She loves reading, spending time with family and friends, traveling, shopping, sunshine, Disney fairy tales, Broadway musicals, and spends way too much time on Facebook and Twitter (@MichelleMadow).

Website+Facebook+Twitter+Goodreads



Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, 3 February 2014

(ARC) Book Review (302): Faking Normal - Courtney C. Stevens


Faking Normal

Publication: 25th February 2014
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Pages: 336
Genre: Contemporary
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
An edgy, realistic, and utterly captivating novel from an exciting new voice in teen fiction.

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

A searing, poignant book, Faking Normal is the extraordinary debut novel from an exciting new author-Courtney C. Stevens.
My Thoughts.
Faking Normal is the 2014 debut novel for Courtney C. Stevens.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, full of secrets and mystery, all surrounding our main protagonist Alexi and and Bodee, the boy next door who is left parentless and ends up staying with Alexi's family.

But the main storyline deals with Alexi being assaulted and feeling like she has to keep it quiet, because people won't believe her, especially with who her attacker is (and it's a shocker, I never would have picked it)!

So to deal with it she starts to harm herself and develops a form of OCD, to help herself cope, it doesn't take long for Bodee to figure out what her secret is, and it's through talking and spending time with him that she comes to terms with what happened and to realise she's not to blame.

These two will soon discover that what they need more than anything is each other, and they'll help each other finally face their problems head on and address them.

I really enjoyed this book, as it gives the reader an insight into the aftermath of a victim's ability to cope with this horrible crime committed against them and the different ways they go about it. And to eventually find the courage to stand up to their attacker once and for all.

Such a well written story, Courtney is a new talent that I'll be sure to track through new releases in the future.

A great contemporary novel, highly recomended.

I give this 5/5 stars.


Things that surprise me and might surprise you.
1) I was an olympic torchbearer.
2) I've been making "me in a tree" pictures since I was little bitty. 
3) My mother tortured me with dancing.

One of the great joys in my life was being a youth minister. These kids, and others not on this trip, were a huge and significant part of my life. There is no greater joy than knowing what you do makes a difference to someone. These students have traveled with me, trusted me with their secrets, shared life with me, and let me kick their tail ends in laser tag (and paintball and hunger games and water gun wars and .... you get the picture. We have a good time.)
 I write by myself with the music on. But I revise and read in silence. Sometimes I write at Barnes and Noble. Sometimes at my desk. Sometimes at Panera. (But it's super cold there.) My favorite place to write is the beach (Fort Walton). I wrote 170 pages of Faking Normal longhand in a beach chair.


Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

(ARC) Book Review (301): Maybe One Day - Melissa Kantor


Maybe One Day

Pages: 400
Genre: Contemporary
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
What an emotionally heartfelt and heartbreaking book this turned out to be,  full of so much emotion that the author has wrung out of this tragic story, as I was left ugly crying into the last few pages of this book.

I have a love/hate relationship with these kinds of book, I end up so devastated at the end that I feel like I've lost that person as well, and the tragedy of having someone so young be the one diagnosed with cancer is so extremely saddening (not that it's any less sadder if it's an older person, but they've at least got to live a little, when you're sixteen there's not really a whole lot in life yet that you've had the chance to get to do).

And always in books like this the heroine/ hero is left  lamenting the things that they'll never, ever get a chance to do with their lives, thats when the tears start and I end up a sobbing mess.

It also helps to have likeable characters, and you'll certainly find them in this story best-friends Zoe and Olivia, since they met when they were four they've been inseperable ever since, but after Olivia goes to the Doctor with flu-like symptoms and is diagnosed with cancer, we get to see the impact that this news will have on their friendship and their plans for the future.

I'm tearing up writing this review just thinking about this book, it's hard to put into words how much this story affected me emotionally , it really made an impact, and I won't be forgetting this book anytime soon.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for other Melissa Kantor releases, her writing is beautifully done and she's a fantastic storyteller.

Highly recommended for any contemporary fan.

I give this 5/5 stars.


 I was born in New York City in 1970. And even though teachers never care about this, I'll give you my sign--Capricorn. 
When I was in seventh grade, I told people I was going to be a writer. Then in college I got interested in other things, and after I graduated I started teaching, which I love. But ideas for stories kept popping into my head. One was an image of two girls walking down Montague Street (that’s the main drag in Brooklyn Heights) during their lunch period. They were best friends, only one of the girls was cooler and prettier and more successful with boys than the other one. They were talking about a party they’d been invited to, trying to decide if they wanted to go or not. Finally I decided I had to know what happened to them. Those girls became Jan and Rebecca, and their story is Confessions of a Not It Girl.

Website+Facebook+Twitter+Goodreads

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

(ARC) Book Review (300): White Space (Dark Passages #1) - Ilsa J. Bick


White Space (Dark Passages #1)

Publication: 11th February 2014
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pages: 560
Genre: Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
In the tradition of Memento and Inception comes a thrilling and scary young adult novel about blurred reality where characters in a story find that a deadly and horrifying world exists in the space between the written lines.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Lindsay has problems: a head full of metal, no parents, a crazy artist for a guardian whom a stroke has turned into a vegetable, and all those times when she blinks away, dropping into other lives so ghostly and surreal it's as if the story of her life bleeds into theirs. But one thing Emma has never doubted is that she's real.

Then she writes "White Space," a story about these kids stranded in a spooky house during a blizzard.

Unfortunately, "White Space" turns out to be a dead ringer for part of an unfinished novel by a long-dead writer. The manuscript, which she's never seen, is a loopy Matrix meets Inkheart story in which characters fall out of different books and jump off the page. Thing is, when Emma blinks, she might be doing the same and, before long, she's dropped into the very story she thought she'd written. Trapped in a weird, snow-choked valley, Emma meets other kids with dark secrets and strange abilities: Eric, Casey, Bode, Rima, and a very special little girl, Lizzie. What they discover is that they--and Emma--may be nothing more than characters written into being from an alternative universe for a very specific purpose.

Now what they must uncover is why they've been brought to this place--a world between the lines where parallel realities are created and destroyed and nightmares are written--before someone pens their end.
My Thoughts.
White Space is the first book in Ilsa J. Bick's new Dark Passages series.

To say that this book and I didn't get along is an understatement, from the very first page I was confused, I felt like I was dropped right into the middle of a story and that everything had been explained already but I'd missed it, unfortunately the confusion only got worse as the book went on.

The end of each chapter with the unfinished sentences that at the start seemed like a novelty, soon became quite annoying, and while I did guess who Emma actually was very early on, the revelation came at the point where I was just reading to actually get the book finished so I could review it, and I didn't really care.

I made myself read the whole book, I don't like to not finish a book, sometimes I find that I don't like the start of a story but the ending redeems it, but I found I still couldn't figure out what really went on after I'd finished, I was left with way more questions than I had answers.

While the concept of this plot was what initially perked my interest I found that this book was too complex for me, unfortunately as much as I wanted to love it I won't be continuing on with this series.

I still hope to one day pick up Ilsa's Ashes trilogy some point in time, and that I'll like that series a whole lot more.

I give this 2/5 stars.


Among other things, I was an English major in college and so I know that I’m supposed to write things like,”Ilsa J. Bick is<fill in the blank>.” Except I hate writing about myself like I’m not in the room.
Helloooo, I’m right here … So let’s just say that I’m a child psychiatrist (yeah, you read that right) and an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, ebooks and novels.
Believe me, no one is more shocked about this than I … unless you talk to my mother.


Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Saturday, 25 January 2014

(ARC) Book Review (299): The Lure - Lynne Ewing


The Lure

Publication: 11th February 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 288
Genre: Contemporary
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
From the bestselling author of the Daughters of the Moon series comes a gritty, sexy novel about a teen who is forced to become a "lure"-a beautiful girl who is used to lure victims of gang violence.

Fifteen-year-old Blaise Montgomery lives in the gritty outskirts of Washington, DC, where a stray bullet can steal a life on the way to school. Drugs and violence are the only ways to survive, so Blaise and her friends turn to gangs for safety, money, and love. When Blaise is invited to join Core 9, one of the most infamous crews, she jumps at the chance. Though her best guy friends, Rico and Satch, warn her about the danger, she agrees to be beaten for a minute straight as part of the gang's initiation ritual.

Now Blaise is finally part of a crew. A family.

But things get only more dangerous when she becomes a member of Core 9 and tensions with a rival gang heat up. Trek, the head of Core 9, asks Blaise to be his "lure," the sexy bait he'll use to track down enemy gang members and exact revenge. Rico and Satch tell her it's a death sentence, but Blaise can't resist the money and unparalleled power. As Trek puts Blaise in increasingly dangerous situations, she begins to see that there's more to lose than she ever realized-including Satch, the one person who has the power to get under her skin. With death lurking around every corner, should Blaise continue to follow the only path she's ever known, or cut and run?
My Thoughts.
The Lure by Lynne Ewing is a contemporary book focusing on the initiation into and the life of belonging to a gang.

Gritty and raw told through the eyes of Blaise, raised in a neighbourhood where most people are poor and the only answer for most teenagers is to join a gang, in Blaise's case she is being raised by her sick grandmother, money is very tight and so like her childhood friends Satch and Rico she decides to join their gang Core 9.

Initial into the gang is to be beaten for 1 minute straight without fighting back, after successfully completing the beating Blaise feels like part of a family, but life in a gang is not as great as it appeared to be when she was on the outside looking in, but when Trek the leader of Core 9 tells her that she will be their lure (enticing opposing gang members, so that they let their guard down and subsequently get beaten up by Core 9 members) against her better judgement and without really being given a choice she accepts.

But reality comes crashing down when someone she lured comes after her and results in the death of an innocent bystander, that Blaise comes to realise that this may not be the life that she wants after all, getting out is a lot harder than getting in, and when Trek sets Blaise, Satch and Rico up and turns on them it will end fatally for one of them. and will shock the remaining two into realising that they've got to take the chance and get out while they can.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the insight into what it takes to not only join a gang but belong to one as well had me very intrigued and in places shocked that this does actually happen.

A fast-paced, quick read that contemporary fans should devour.

I give this 4/5 stars.


Lynne Ewing is an American author and a screen writer.

She always had to move around a lot when she was growing up because her father was in the Marine Corps. She has two sisters. Lynne graduated from high school in Lima, Peru after attending seven other schools. While she was in Peru, she learned to speak Spanish. She attended the University of California at Santa Barbara. When she was 30 years old, she began writing for newspapers, documentaries, magazines, and did screen writing. She also counsels troubled teens. Her first books were Drive-By and Party Girl. Drive-By took six years to write, and Party Girl has been made into a movie called Living the Life. She has written the completed Daughters of the Moon and Sons of the Dark series. She lives in Los Angeles and Washington D.C.. Ms. Ewing has two children, Jonathan, a molecular biologist, and Amber, an international lawyer. She has also traveled to Japan, China, Russia, Europe, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. She has begun a new series called Sisters of Isis.



Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

(ARC) Book Review (298): Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1) - Cynthia Eden

Burn For Me (Phoenix Fire #1)

Publication: 28th January 2014
Publisher: Kensington Brava
Pages: 368
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age Appropriate: Adult
Under Fire

Eve Bradley was undercover looking for a story, not a cause. But something about the man they called Subject Thirteen got her involved. The scientists said he was a devil, and they had a decent case: Terrifying power. A bad attitude. And looks that could lead anyone to sin. . .

Cain O'Connor knows the minute he catches her candy scent that Eve could drive him wild. But she's a threat--in a way no one has been for him in years. She's safer away from him, too. But with a powerful conspiracy determined to shut Eve up for good, there's no time to argue. All they can do is trust their instincts--and their hearts. . .
My Thoughts.
Burn For Me is the first book in the new Phoenix Fire series by Cynthia Eden.

To say that I loved this book is an understatement, I devoured and adored this story and it's characters and I'm highly anticipating the next two books.

I've never read any of Cynthia's books before, and after finishing Burn For Me I will definitely have to remedy that, I knew as soon as I read the first page that I was going to fall in love with not just the story and characters but the writing as well.

The originally fresh concept of having a Phoenix as the male lead was genius, I love discovering something new in the paranormal genre, and the character of Cain (subject thirteen) was certainly unique and made for an interesting character storyline.

The plotline was exciting and suspenseful as our heroine Eve a reporter, goes undercover as a Doctor at Genesis Group, (a lab where paranormals are being tortured and experimented on, disguised as a genetics research lab), and that's where she meets Cain, after discovering the way that he and all the other paranormals are treated by Dr Wyatt who is in charge she sets out to help them escape, and in doing so may just find out the truth about who she is and why the Doctor is so interested in her.

I'm very intrigued to see what happens with the rest of the series, I look forward to the next book Once Bitten, Twice Burned which will feature vampire Ryder as the male lead and maybe fingers crossed Trace as the male lead in an upcoming book.

This series is a fantastic addition to the paranormal genre, one I will be following and reading along the way.

I give this 5/5 stars.


Award-winning author Cynthia Eden writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is aNew York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, andIndieReader best-seller.  Cynthia is also a two-time finalist for the RITA® award (she was a finalist both in the romantic suspense category and in the paranormal romance category). Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over thirty novels and novellas.
Cynthia is a “hybrid” author. She has published extensively with New York (her New York publishers include Kensington, Grand Central, and Harlequin), and she has also enjoyed success in her indie writing career.
Cynthia lives along the Alabama Gulf Coast. She loves romance novels, horror movies, and chocolate.  Her favorite hobbies including hiking in the mountains (searching for waterfalls) and spelunking.
You can find Cynthia chatting daily on Twitter or on her Facebook page.


Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Sunday, 19 January 2014

(ARC) Book Review (297): Arcadia Falls (Arkadien #3) - Kai Meyer


Arcadia Falls (Arkadien #3)

by 
My Thoughts.
Arcadia Falls is the third and final book in the Arkadien trilogy by Kai Meyer.

What an epic and thrilling conclusion that will leave no questions unanswered, starting with a bang, digging it's claws into you so you can't put the book down until you reach the fantastic and perfect ending that will leave everyone satisfied.

I've thoroughly enjoyed each and every book in this series, getting better with each new instalment, and definitely and appropriately saving the best for last.

Full of twists and turns which I've come to expect from Kai's writing, there's never a dull moment which in a book consisting of 471 pages is a rarity and a very welcome surprise.

This book is full of amazingly written characterisations, and you need not look no further than our two leads: Rosa and Alessandro, two fully fleshed out characters that I've loved reading about, and have sadly had to say goodbye to in this series swan song.

Combining the Sicilian Mafia and the paranormal has worked a treat, especially having the two leaders of two opposing and long feuding families fall in love with each other, against the odds these two who through a long ago concordat are pretty much forbidden to be together, are now hunted by their own families.

For those of you that like forbidden romances, feuding families mixed up with paranormal aspects, then check these books out.

A great series that I plan on re-reading, highly recommended!

I give this 5/5 stars.



With millions of books sold worldwide, Kai Meyer is one of Germany's most successful authors. His novels have been translated into 27 languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

Kai Meyer was born in 1969 in northern Germany. He began college at the University of Bochum, Germany, where he studied film, theatre, and philosophy. After a year, he dropped out to work for a newspaper as a trainee journalist, followed by two years as a staff journalist.

Kai wrote his first novel in his early 20s, and it was published when he was just 24 years old. He has been a full-time novelist since 1995. To date, Kai has written nearly 50 books – some for adults, some for teenagers. Kai’s books are mostly historical with strong fantastical overtones. There are over 1.5 million Kai Meyer books in print in Germany, and he is quickly gaining popularity in other countries as well: THE WATER MIRROR went into its third US printing before it was even delivered to bookstores, and his young adult dark fantasy series SIEBEN SIEGEL is a substantial hit in Japan. The British edition of THE FLOWING QUEEN / THE WATER MIRROR won the 2007 Marsh Award for Best Children´s Book in Translation.

In 2007 his historical novel DAS GELÜBDE (The Vow) was turned into a movie by celebrated German director Dominik Graf. SIEBEN SIEGEL is set to be filmed in 2008, other books are optioned.

Kai has also written screenplays, two of which have been made into TV movies. He is the author of a hardcover comic book, PANDORAMICUM, and is one of the creators of the fantasy role-playing game ENGEL (US edition by White Wolf).

Kai Meyer lives in Westphalia near the Rhine in Germany.
Website+Facebook+Twitter+Goodreads

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)