Keep his grades sky-high or he’ll never escape his hometown. Keep his brother’s business going or the Merricks will be out on the street. Keep the secret of where he’s going in the evenings from his own twin—-or he’ll lose his family.
Keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who’s supposed to be his “girlfriend’s” partner.
Of course there’s also the homicidal freak Quinn has taken to hanging around, and the Elemental Guide counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers.
There’s a storm coming. From all sides. And then some.
Nick Merrick, can you keep it together?
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by Kensington Teen
For Christine, dreams have never meant much. Until she meets Gabriel. Everyone thinks Christine should stay away from her new coworker at the library—thanks to his bad reputation—but when her dreams grow more vivid and she becomes entangled in a dangerous dream world with Gabriel every night, she can’t stay away. Soon it’s clear there is far more to dreams than Christine ever imagined, and now she’s on the path to making the biggest, and strangest, decision of her life.
Look for it in November 2013 from Scribe Publishing.
"An intriguing debut, DREAM GIRL introduces a world where simply falling asleep can bring you anywhere – including into danger. Readers will never think of dreams the same way again!" - Laura Ellen, author of BLIND SPOT
Q: What do you do with your books after you are done reading them?
I pretty much keep my books, quite often I'll replace a paperback I've read with the hardcover because it looks prettier on my bookshelf and my sister gets all my paperbacks, she never has to walk into a bookshop she gets a lot of new releases after I've read them.
After a virus claimed nearly the entire global population, the world changed. The United States splintered into fifty walled cities where the surviving citizens clustered to start over. The Company, which ended the plague by bringing a life-saving vaccine back from the future, controls everything. They ration the scant food and supplies through a lottery system, mandate daily doses of virus suppressant, and even monitor future timelines to stop crimes before they can be committed.
Brilliant but autistic, sixteen-year-old Clover Donovan has always dreamed of studying at the Waverly-Stead Academy. Her brother and caretaker, West, has done everything in his power to make her dream a reality. But Clover’s refusal to part with her beloved service dog denies her entry into the school. Instead, she is drafted into the Time Mariners, a team of Company operatives who travel through time to gather news about the future.
When one of Clover’s missions reveals that West’s life is in danger, the Donovans are shattered. To change West’s fate, they’ll have to take on the mysterious Company. But as its secrets are revealed, they realize that the Company’s rule may not be as benevolent as it seems. In saving her brother, Clover will face a more powerful force than she ever imagined… and will team up with a band of fellow misfits and outsiders to incite a revolution that will change their destinies forever.
My Thoughts.
Loved it, loved it, loved it, this would have to be one of the best dystopian/post-apocalyptic books I have ever read!
This book had me transfixed and I loathed putting it down for things like work and sleep and stuff, I was so absorbed in the world that Shaunta had created, eager to rush through it and get to the end to see what was waiting for me, luckily there isn't really a cliffhanger of sorts although it did have me wishing I had the second book to go straight on with.
The concept of this story had me from the get go, the idea that people are dependant on a drug injected daily, to stop a deadly virus from spreading or in the case of the unfortunate people who initially were dying from the virus before the supressant was developed to keep it dormant.
To have the lead heroine Clover autistic was something different that I've never read before in a book, and it was incorporated very well into the story and was used to further the plot in a major way, that explains how the Company will use any means necessary to further their hold over the citizens.
Clover is left to be looked after by her older brother West, after their Father is sent to live in barracks closer to his job as an executioner, but West longs to be able to be free enough to do what he wants to do instead of worrying and spending his time looking out for her, so when Clover is accepted into the Academy a school for extremely gifted people he's ecstactic, not only for her but also for being able to get on with his own life and not be depended on all the time.
Unfortunately Clover has a service dog Mango who she depends on when she gets worked up to calm her down, but the Academy will not let her enroll with her dog and so instead she is sent to train for a job as a Time Mariner, people are sent into the future to collect information, this also helps in discovering crimes before they are ever committed and the perpetrators are executed before they have a chance to even do the crime, Clover never really has a problem with this until the day she finds her brother on a poster wanted for murder.
Knowing that people will be tracking him down to execute him, they must escape and try to prevent the murder from ever happening, joining up with a group of runaways they set out to find the truth within the lies that the Company have told them and with the help of a presumed dead deserter they set out to do just that.
I loved all these characters, so fleshed out and likeable you can't help but care about them, especially towards the end when they make their plans to become the resistance and destroy the Company for good.
The plotline was superb, top rate and the world-building just took this book to another level.
I highly recommend this book, anyone looking for a fantastic dystopian then pick this one up, you won't be sorry!
I give this 5/5 Stars.
About Shaunta.
My name is Shaunta Grimes.
I’ve been many things. Some I was born with, or created in a permanent way. Like being a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister. Some I created, and they stuck. Like being a teacher. Others came about out of some passion or another, and they come and go. Like being a rural Nevada newspaper reporter, or running a drug court treatment program, or starting an online vintage clothing store.
No matter what I do, though, I always come back to telling stories.
You can find me at the book and movie blog, Story Carnivores, that I write with my friend Brian Rowe. Also, come join the party on Twitter or Facebook. I also blog pretty regularly at Fierce Fatties.
I’d love to hear from you, too. You can reach me at shauntagrimes@gmail.com.
The day Preston Drake figured out that wealthy women paid well for a set of tight abs and a pretty face his life turned around.
The run down rat-infested trailer he had shared with his alcoholic mother and three younger siblings was now only a place he visited to pay the bills and stock the pantry with food.
He no longer worried about his family starving or living without electricity. The money he made entertaining rich older women more than covered his family’s needs and his own. He had it all figured out. Except…
There was this girl.
She was as innocent as he was tainted.
Amanda Hardy wished her knees didn’t get weak when Preston walked into a room. She hated the fact her heart raced when he flashed his smile in her direction. He had a different girl in his bed every night. He was the kind of boy a smart girl ran from. So, why was she coming up with ways to get close to him? Even when it was obvious he wanted to keep her at a distance.
Maybe her heart knew something the world didn’t. Maybe Preston Drake was more than just a pretty face.
My Thoughts.
Just For Now is the fourth book in the Sea Breeze series by Abbi Glines, this book is one of my favourite's of the series so far, up there with Breathe, the first in the series.
That is all due to Preston, Abbi knows how to write hot, sexy male characters, add to that his past and current situation and you have yourself a male lead that keeps you absorbed and glued to the pages!
I definitely think that Amanda 'Manda' was the perfect choice for him, they both seem to balance each other out, and the chemistry 'Wowser', talk about steamy, this book should come with a fan to cool you down it's so hot.
I loved discovering Preston's private life and what he did for a living just to make sure that his brothers and sister were kept fed, clothed and had a roof over their heads, no thanks to their druggie, alcoholic mother, who couldn't care one way or another what happened to them as long as she was able to get high and pissed.
You really feel for Preston, ashamed at where he came from and now how his siblings are having to live the same way, he never told a soul not even his best-friend Marcus (Manda's brother who is like a brother to him) about his home-life situation, and he's definitely never told anyone about where he gets his money from to pay for everything.
Preston has trouble with love, certainly never having gotten any from his Mother he finds it hard to believe that someone like Manda could ever feel that way about him, especially if she ever discovers his secret, Manda meanwhile has had a crush on him for a couple of years now and just wants to be thought of as more than Marcus' little sister.
This book ends with a wedding, I won't say who's but it's nice to see one of the couple's taking the next step, and all the characters coming together to celebrate, I loved it.
The next book is going to be called 'Sometimes It Lasts' and will again feature Cage and Eva, and will see where they are after a year together, I can't wait for that one, that will then be followed by 'A Little Misbehavin' Jason Stone's book, which means because they're brothers you would think that there would be quite a few appearances from none other that that sexy rock-star of ours Jax *squee*.
Unfortunately we have to wait for the next book, I enjoyed having the first four books all at once so I could just pick up the next one as soon as I was finished, I hate to wait, all I can do is count down the days.
Highly recommended.
I give this 5/5 Stars.
Quotes.
“Hearts don’t realize they’ve been lied to. They still love anyway.”
“I love you. I love you so damn much it consumes me. I don't deserve you, but I'm gonna become the man who does deserve you. I promise you. I'll make you proud of me.”
“Nothing about this thing we have is a bad thing. I’m not gonna lie about it: I don’t deserve you. I’m sure as hell not good enough for you, but as long as you want me, I’m all yours.”
“I didn't need taming. I needed saving.”
“In the screwed-up life I’d been dealt, she was my only source of comfort.”
About Abbi.
Abbi Glines was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up in the small town of Sumiton, Alabama where she left the summer she turned eighteen. She didn’t get far… she chased her high school sweetheart down to the coast and she’s been there ever since.
Abbi now lives in the quaint southern town of Fairhope, Alabama with her three children and husband Keith (the high school sweetheart she chased after). Her life is never dull and Keith always makes sure there is another “experience” for them to explore.
Books published by Abbi include The Vincent Boys and the USA TODAY bestseller The Vincent Brothers, Breathe, Because of Low, the USA TODAY bestsellers While It Lasts and Just For Now, The Existence Trilogy that includes the USA Today Bestseller Ceaseless, and The New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal bestseller Fallen Too Far. Currently she is working on Never Too Far, the sequel to Fallen too Far.
When Abbi isn’t locked away in her office typing away she is hauling her kids to and from their many social activities. You could say her second job is the Glines Kids personal chauffeur. It’s a rather illustrious job.
Set in the steamy coastal Alabama town of Sea Breeze, an interconnected group of older teens hook up, break up ...and much, much more. Cage York has a free ride to college for baseball - or he did, until he got in trouble for drink-driving. Now he has to give in to his coach's demands and spend his summer baling hay. No hot babes in bikinis waiting to meet a Southern boy to make her vacation complete. Just him and the damned cows. Oh and an uptight, snarky brunette with the biggest blue eyes he's ever seen. Eva Brooks planned out her life step by step when she was eight years old. Not once over the years had she lost sight of her goals. Josh Beasley, her next door neighbour, had been the centre of those goals. He'd been her first boyfriend at seven, her first kiss at ten, her first date at fifteen and her first tragedy at eighteen. The moment she'd received the phone call from Josh's mother saying he'd been killed along with four other soldiers just north of Baghdad, Eva's carefully planned life imploded in the worst way possible. Now she has to deal with the arrogant Cage York and his irritating smile. But as the summer bailing hay rolls by, Cage and Eva learn that what they want (and need) may be something they never saw coming.
My Thoughts.
While It Lasts is the third book in the Sea Breeze series written by the wonderful Abbi Glines, continuing on from the first two book, this time around the focus is on Cage and country girl Eva.
Cage has been sent to a farm to prove himself worthy to stay on his baseball team after being arrested for DUI, after being given the option to work at the farm or lose his place on the team, needing the scholarship he's hoping to receive, he chooses the former.
It's there that he meets the farmer's daughter Eva, who eighteen months after the death of her fiancee' is still in mourning, and certainly has no interest in getting involved with anyone, least of all Cage, whom she's not very friendly too at first, but Cage's interest is piqued not used to females not throwing themselves at his feet, he's not known as a man-whore for nothing, having a different female in his bed every night.
It's not long before Cage works his way into her heart and she finds herself falling for him, whilst trying to get rid of the guilt of feeling that she's betraying her dead fiancee's memory, and being told that Cage isn't and never will be good enough for her, but will she listen to her heart and decide for herself or let everyone else make her decision for her?
I loved this couple, I was intrigued by Cage's character in the second book 'Because Of Low' and was excited to pick up his book, I was not disappointed, I felt Abbi picked the perfect match in Eva, I look forward to continuing their story in the upcoming 'Sometimes It Lasts'.
I find myself falling more in love with the series the further I go along, everyone needs to read these books.
I give this 4/5 Stars.
Quotes.
“I'm worried that this is too soon. What if you get tired of having me around all the time? What if I eat your Wheaties or leave my makeup out in the bathroom or what if I snore?" "I don't eat Wheaties, I hope you leave all your girlie shit laying all over the place so I can see it when you're not there and know you're coming back. And you don't snore. You do this soft purring thing that is so fucking cute I just want to lay awake and listen to you.”
“All I had to do was make this guy happy. I’d take care of his cows and do manual labor for two and a half months then my coach wouldn’t kick my ass off the baseball team. The DUI, he’d had to bail me out of jail for, would be forgotten and my baseball scholarship would remain intact. I only had three problems with this plan: 1. No girls. 2. I hated manual labor 3. No girls.”
“Even if I had stayed she wouldn't have ever wanted me. She didn't want me for anything more than a summer fling. I was a way of moving on for her.”
“I'd worried that letting her get too close would break me. Unfortunately, I'd worried about that a little too late. Because I was broken. The Cage I was before Eva no longer existed. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I'd fallen in love with her. I'd allowed someone in and she hadn't want me. I hadn't been good enough. I never was.”
About Abbi.
Abbi Glines was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up in the small town of Sumiton, Alabama where she left the summer she turned eighteen. She didn’t get far… she chased her high school sweetheart down to the coast and she’s been there ever since.
Abbi now lives in the quaint southern town of Fairhope, Alabama with her three children and husband Keith (the high school sweetheart she chased after). Her life is never dull and Keith always makes sure there is another “experience” for them to explore.
Books published by Abbi include The Vincent Boys and the USA TODAY bestseller The Vincent Brothers, Breathe, Because of Low, the USA TODAY bestsellers While It Lasts and Just For Now, The Existence Trilogy that includes the USA Today Bestseller Ceaseless, and The New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal bestseller Fallen Too Far. Currently she is working on Never Too Far, the sequel to Fallen too Far.
When Abbi isn’t locked away in her office typing away she is hauling her kids to and from their many social activities. You could say her second job is the Glines Kids personal chauffeur. It’s a rather illustrious job.
Whoever said life is hard didn’t know the
half of it!
Completely devastated when his life is
ripped out from underneath him, Jordan Rhodes decides to take a break. A break
from everything he’s always known; the country club life-style, his life-long
friends and his overbearing parents. He just wants to be free to get lost and
not feel the pain he has endured.
Kimber Maguire has been dealt the tough
card her entire life. An ailing mom, a sister who refuses to face reality and a
yearning for the one that got away, she finds putting one foot in front of the
other as her only saving grace. What she really wants is to be free of feeling
the pressure that is her life to get lost.
But when Jordan finds Kimber while losing
himself, they both discover, sometimes you just need to feel to be found.
