Sunday 1 December 2013

(ARC) Book Review (277): Almost Super - Marion Jensen


Almost Super

Publication: 21st January 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 256
Genre: Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Middle-Grade
Buy It: Amazon Barnes & Noble The Book Depository
Savvy meets The Incredibles in this fresh, funny middle-grade debut about two brothers in a family of superheroes who must find a way to be heroic despite receiving powers that are total duds.

Each leap year, on February 29th, at 4:23 p.m., every member of the Bailey family over the age of twelve gets a superpower. No one knows why, and no one questions it. All the Baileys know is that it's their duty to protect the world from those evil, supervillainous Johnsons.

Today, Rafter Bailey and his brother Benny are finally going to get their superpowers. Benny wants to be a speedy, and Rafter hopes he gets super strength so he can save the day just like his grandfather. But when their powers arrive, they are, well, duds. Rafter can light matches on polyester, and Benny can turn his innie belly button into an outie.

Suddenly Rafter and Benny's world is turned upside down. Especially when they realize that Juanita Johnson, the villain in Rafter's algebra class, thinks that her family are the superheroes and the Baileys are the villains.

What if everything Rafter thought he knew about superheroes turns out to be a lie? He may not have an awesome power, but with the help of Benny and an unexpected friend, he could just be almost super.
My Thoughts.
Almost Super by Marian Jensen is an action packed story with an extremely entertaining plot and equally intriguing characters.

February 29......4.23pm

It was meant to be the best day of brothers Rafter and Benny's life, this was the day they were both to come into their superhero powers, instead what they get is far from superhero like in any way.

With their dreams shattered of aiding their family in the fight against their arch-enemies the Johnson family, whom also have super powers and are the villains in the town, Rafter and Benny worry about coming face to face with Juanita Johnson a classmate who also got her powers the same time as the boys and now would be able to defeat them both.

But each family is under the same belief that each other are the villains, can they finally put their differences aside to help defeat an even bigger threat?

I don't get the chance to read a whole lot of middle-grade books and when I do I love it when I find an extremely well written one as this one is.

From the way this ended I'm hopeful that this is the first book in a series, I would love to continue on with this story.

For those who like stories with a whole lot of action and adventure definitely pick this up!

I give this 4/5 Stars.



By day I’m a mild-mannered instructional design manager at American Express. By night, I write books. Superhero books. Books that will make you laugh, cry (because you’re laughing so hard), and throw your fist in the air and shout “Hiiiyiiyiyiyiiiyi!” It’s not as hard to pronounch as you may think.
My first book, Almost Superis set to come out in January, 2014 with Harper Collins.

January 2014 Book Releases I'm Dying To Get My Hands On!


Up From the Grave (Night Huntress #7)


My Sweetest Escape (My Favorite Mistake #2)

The past will always find you.

Jos Archer was the girl with the perfect life; until the night it all came crashing down around her. Now, nine months later, she still hasn't begun to pick up the pieces. Even transferring to a new college and living under the watchful eye of her older sister, Renee, isn't enough to help her feel normal again.

And then she meets Dusty Sharp. For reasons Jos can't begin to fathom, the newly reformed campus bad boy seems determined to draw her out of her shell. And if she's not careful, his knowing green eyes and wicked smile will make her feel things she's no longer sure she deserves.

But even as Dusty coaxes Jos to open up about the past, he's hiding secrets of his own. Secrets about the night her old life fell apart. When the truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together;or tear them apart for good?
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by Harlequin HQN

Evertrue (Everneath #3)


Uninvited (Uninvited #1)

The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan's chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she's destined to become a murderer.

When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.

Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.

The first in a two-book series, Uninvited tackles intriguing questions about free will, identity, and human nature. Steeped in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's trademark mix of gripping action and breathless romance, this suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of James Patterson, Michelle Hodkin, and Lisa McMann.
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by HarperTeen

Come to Me Quietly (Closer to You #1)


(I Can't Say How Much I Hate This Cover, It's Awful!)

Secret (Elemental #4)


Cruel Beauty


Dark Wolf (Dark #25)


Loving Cara (Love Under the Big Sky #1)


Flame (Sky Chasers #3)

In the thrilling conclusion to the Sky Chasers series Waverly, Kieran, and Seth struggle to survive on-board the New Horizon—and take down their enemies before it's too late.

Waverly and the other members of the Empyrean have scattered, and their home ship has been destroyed. Their mission to rescue their parents didn't go as planned, and now they're at an even greater disadvantage: trapped with their enemies on the New Horizon, trying to find a way to survive. Kieran has been pulled under Anne Mather’s wing, but is she really trying to make peace, or just using Kieran to build her own power? Meanwhile, Waverly is taken in by a mysterious old man who wants to help her bring Anne Mather down—but the more Waverly cooperates with him, the more dangerous her position is, and the more at odds with Kieran she becomes.

Seth's situation is even worse. After setting out from the Empyrean on his own, with only a vague strategy to guide him, he is a fugitive aboard the New Horizon. He's doing what he can to challenge the power of Anne Mather, but he's badly hurt, and getting sicker.

Will Seth ever see Waverly again? Will his health hold out long enough to help her topple their enemies? And will Waverly find a way to unite with her friends before they all fall? Nothing is sure and every moment is a risk in this explosive finale of the Sky Chasers series.
Expected publication: January 7th 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin

Hope Flames (Hope #1)

Veterinarian Emma Burnett won't let anything or anyone sidetrack her from her job as new owner of the vet clinic in Hope. She let a man distract her once, with disastrous results. But when Luke McCormack brings in his injured police dog, Emma can hardly ignore him. Despite Emma's best efforts to keep things strictly doctor and owner of the patient, Luke's one hot distraction.
Expected publication: January 7th 2014 by Berkley

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant(The V Trilogy #1)


Minders

A high concept, cinematic read with a surprising twist,MINDERS asks the question: who is really watching who?

Q: If the boy you love commits a crime, would you turn him in?

Sadie Ames is a type-A teenager from the wealthy suburbs. She's been accepted to the prestigious Mind Corps Fellowship program, where she'll spend six weeks as an observer inside the head of Ford, a troubled boy with a passion for the crumbling architecture of the inner city. There's just one problem: Sadie's fallen in love with him.

Q: What if the crime is murder?

Ford Winters is haunted by the murder of his older brother, James. As Sadie falls deeper into his world, dazzled by the shimmering pinpricks of color that form images in his mind, she begins to think she knows him. Then Ford does something unthinkable.

Q: What if you saw it happen from inside his mind?

Back in her own body, Sadie is faced with the ultimate dilemma. With Ford's life in her hands, she must decide what is right and what is wrong. And how well she can really ever know someone, even someone she loves.
Expected publication: January 30th 2014 by Razorbill

Darkest Fear (Birthright #1)

Vivi’s animal instincts are her legacy—and maybe her downfall—in this start to a romantic fantasy series that will appeal to fans of The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

Vivi has known the truth about her family—and herself—since she was thirteen. But that doesn’t mean she’s accepted it. Being Haguari isn’t something she feels she’ll ever accept. How can she feel like anything but a freak knowing that it’s in her genes to turn into a jaguar?

Now eighteen, Vivi’s ready to break away from the traditions of her heritage. But all of that changes with the shocking, devastating deaths of her parents and the mysteries left behind. Vivi discovers family she never even knew she had, and a life open with possibility. New friends, new loyalties, and even romance all lay ahead—but so do dangers unlike anything Vivi ever could have imagined.
Expected publication: January 7th 2014 by Simon Pulse

Romancing the Duke (Castles Ever After #1)

In the first in Tessa Dare's captivating Castles Ever After series, a mysterious fortress is the setting for an unlikely love . . .

Growing up as the daughter of famed author Sir Henry Goodnight, Isolde spun romantic tales of knights and maidens. But now Izzy has nothing—aside from a stone heap inherited from her godfather. Gostley Castle is rundown, reportedly haunted, and already inhabited—by a darkly sensual recluse who claims to be the Duke of Rothbury. And he's not budging.

Ransom Vane intends to find the castle's rumored treasure. After a life marked by hardship and betrayal, he deserves it—far more than any sheltered English miss. Except Izzy is no gullible girl; she's intelligent, tenacious, and tempting beyond reason. With her wits and his brawn, they could find the priceless relics. All he needs to do is resist the urge to care for her.

A simple task . . . and quite impossible, when Izzy is fast becoming the prize he craves most of all . . .
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by Avon

Wulfe Untamed (Feral Warriors #8)


Bitter Spirits (Roaring Twenties #1)

First in a new romance series: It’s the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…

There’s a big curse in little Chinatown...and it’s not prohibition.

Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown’s illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.

Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who’s more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he’s the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida’s supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her...

On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise…
Expected publication: January 7th 2014 by Berkley

Anything to Have You

Nothing should come between best friends, not even boys. ESPECIALLY not boys.

Natalie and Brooke have had each other's backs forever. Natalie is the quiet one, college bound and happy to stay home and watch old movies. Brooke is the movie—the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be.

Then it happens—one crazy night that Natalie can't remember and Brooke's boyfriend, Aiden, can't forget. Suddenly there's a question mark in Natalie and Brooke's friendship that tests everything they thought they knew about each other and has both girls discovering what true friendship really means.
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by Harlequin Teen

And We Stay

When high school senior Paul Wagoner walks into his school library with a stolen gun, he threatens his girlfriend Emily Beam, then takes his own life. In the wake of the tragedy, an angry and guilt-ridden Emily is shipped off to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she encounters a ghostly presence who shares her name. The spirit of Emily Dickinson and two quirky girls offer helping hands, but it is up to Emily to heal her own damaged self.

This inventive story, told in verse and in prose, paints the aftermath of tragedy as a landscape where there is good behind the bad, hope inside the despair, and springtime under the snow.
Expected publication: January 28th 2014 by Delacorte Press

Aspen

One quiet night in Boulder, Colorado, Aspen Yellow-Sunrise Taylor made a mistake.

In the next instant, her life changed forever.

Aspen doesn't want to remember when Katelyn Ryan, a sleek-haired popular soccer player, crossed the yellow line in her car and smashed into Aspen's. But forgetting is pretty hard- because Katelyn may have died - but she didn't leave. Her ghost is following Aspen around, and heading into senior year, it's kind of a problem. Especially when Katelyn's gorgeous former boyfriend Ben appears to be the only person at school with a clue as to how Aspen feels.

Popularity, college, Homecoming Court, hot guys - none of these things ever mattered to Aspen. She's been busy trying to rein in her giant mass of blonde curls, keep her stoner mother Ninny away from Toaster, her mom's awful bongo drumming boyfriend, and prevent her best friends Kim and Cass from killing - or kissing - one another. But with Ben sitting next to her in Physics looking all too gorgeous, Katelyn's spirit dogging her steps, and her obsessive snow-globe collecting therapist begging her to remember all the things she wants to forget, Aspen is thrust into a vivid, challenging world she can't control … and doesn't want to.

A darkly funny, emotionally gripping story of opening up, letting go, and moving on, ASPEN is about the best-worst accident of your life ... and what comes next.
Expected publication: January 2014 by In This Together Media

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Book Review (276): Wildest Dreams - Toni Blake


Wildest Dreams

Publication: 26th November 2013
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 400
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Appropriate: Adult
Buy It: Amazon / Kindle | B&N / Nook
Indiebound | iTunes

From the seductive rhythms of Bourbon Street to the sultry climes of the bayou, a woman's search for the truth leads her into danger and passion beyond her wildest dreams . . .
Advertising executive Stephanie Grant knows how to sell an idea, but she's never had to sell herself before. Walking into The Big Easy's most exclusive bordello, however, she's ready to do just that. What Stephanie doesn't expect is to encounter a man who sees right through her disguise, laying bare not only what she wants, but what she needs.
The lithe blonde who glides up to Jake Broussard's bar could have any man she chooses, but that isn't her endgame. The ex-cop quickly catches on to Stephanie's real plan, and it won't be long before Chez Sophia's rich and powerful clientele do the same. Stephanie's playing with fire. Good thing this hometown boy likes it hot.
My Thoughts.

Wowza! Wildest Dreams by Toni Blake is a red-hot read with a couple that has sizzling chemistry and who will steam up the pages.

Stephanie has come to New Orleans to hunt for her sister Tina, after discovering that Tina has started working as a prostitute and hasn't contacted her for some time she becomes worried and so goes undercover herself as a prostitute at Chez Sophia's where she meets the barman, ex-cop Jake who can tell straight away that she's putting on an act and calls her on it.

Worrying that she may unintentionally get herself hurt Jake agrees to help search for Tina and use some of his old police contacts, after a past tragedy Jake has cut himself off mostly from everyone, but Stephanie seems to be wriggling herself into his life more and more, and as much as he tries to fight it, the chemistry is too strong and they soon find themselves giving in to temptation.

But when Jake starts feeling guilty about being this happy will he put an end to this love affair, can Stephanie find her sister before anything terrible befalls her, and finally will these two finally admit their feelings for one another and give love a chance together?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Toni Blake is a new author to me and I will definitely be on the look-out for her previous books, the characters were intriguing and never dull, the location was perfect and I loved the storyline.

I give this 4/5 Stars.


About Toni

Toni Blake is the USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels published in numerous languages. Her heartfelt and sensual stories are known for taking readers on an emotional journey.
A RITA®-nominated author, Toni is the recipient of numerous awards for her books, including the National Readers Choice Award and the Booksellers Best Award. Her work has also appeared in Cosmo.
Toni's most recent and hugely popular Destiny series takes place in a small Ohio town where coming home means finding your true heart and maybe even your true love.



Sunday 24 November 2013

(ARC) Book Review (275): Palace Of Spies (Palace Of Spies #1) - Sarah Zettel


Palace of Spies (Palace of Spies #1)

Publication: 5th November 2013
Publisher: HMH Books For Young Readers
Pages: 368
Genre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
A warning to all young ladies of delicate breeding who wish to embark upon lives of adventure: Don't. 

Sixteen-year-old Peggy is a well-bred orphan who is coerced into posing as a lady in waiting at the palace of King George I. Life is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that the girl she's impersonating might have been murdered. Unless Peggy can discover the truth, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate. But in a court of shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy—perhaps even the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love...

History and mystery spark in this effervescent series debut.
My Thoughts.
Palace Of Spies is the first book in The Palace Of Spies series by Sarah Zettel.
Set amidst the intrigue of King George I and his life in court, with the possibility of a Jacobite uprising, this book will keep you on your toes as you navigate your way through this deceptively, intriguing story of mystery and deceit, as we try to unravel the secret plots and plans of the spies in the King's court.
Young and poor orphan Margaret 'Peggy', is thrown out of her Uncle's house after she refuses to marry the man that she is betrothed to, luckily for her she is the spitting image of a Lady Francesca, lady in waiting of Princess Caroline, after the death of Francesca, Peggy takes on the identity of Francesca and resumes her place at court.
She soon discovers that Francesca may have been murdered because of something she knew, not knowing who to trust or who may or may not be a spy Peggy becomes friends with an artist's apprentice Matthew whom she soon develops feelings for, but is he secretly a spy, or could it be Francesca's secret lover Robert a footman soldier who may have fallen into the clutches of Francesca's enemy Sophy, who is out to get Francesca any way she can.
When she uncovers a plot against the current ruler who can she trust to help her?
Will she survive long enough to reveal this secret?
This was such an extremely well written historical novel, with enough heart pumping action to keep you turning the pages in a hurry to get to the thrilling end, Zettel has written an amazing story that I can't wait to continue on with in the next book.
I give this 5/5 Stars.



Sarah Zettel is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. She has written eighteen novels and multiple short stories over the past seventeen years in addition to practicing tai chi, learning to fiddle, marrying a rocket scientist and raising a rapidly growing son. She is very tired right now.