Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

January 28, 2015January 26, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

New Adult/Young Adult Romance

Pages:

392

Part of a Series?:

The first in a series of companion novels

Release Date:

June 1st 2012

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, medical the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

My Review:

Katie McGarry has been floating around in my peripheral vision of YA/NA literature for quite some time now. I think the first book I noticed by her was Crash Into You, which I believe is the third in the series. But I remember a lot of hype around it when it came out and I remember seeing it on the shelves of bookstores and all that and I remember thinking, well I’ll read it soon.

Now I’ve been in one of the worst slumps I’ve ever had. Ever. Guys, last year I read 208 books. With less than a month left in this year, I’m at 120 books. 120. I read two books total in the month of November. I have a stack of roughly 100 books that need to be read and I just can’t read right now. Its awful.

That being said, this book really helped to pull me out of a seriously rough slump. I immediately fell for both characters. They both felt real and it was easy to fall in love with them. I felt like it was easier to fall in love with them than it was for them to fall in love with each other. That was seriously cheesy. But very very true. They had instant chemistry and I believed in them right off the bat. Their romance had ups and downs, and it was difficult and there were secrets and it wasn’t perfect, but that’s what made it good. Romance isn’t perfect, relationships definitely are NOT perfect. And their romance is great.

What I really loved about this book is that the characters are great in themselves, separate from each other. Echo and Noah both have incredible stories, they’re both trying to figure out their lives and move on and come to terms with the things that have happened to them. And I’ve read books where it can seem cheesy or overdone or too dramatic but it didn’t feel like that at all. Everything that the two of them go through, especially Echo, really feels real. Even though I’ve never gone through these sorts of things, I felt connections with them. I felt their journey, their emotions.

Bottom line, great book. I’m excited to continue onto the rest of the series because truly, a great romance, a great character story and Katie is a fantastic writer.

Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Tuesday Top Ten: Songs that Are Stuck In My Head!

January 27, 2015January 26, 2015Leave a comment

I’m really excited to do this post. One, viagra sale I said I would post more than just books on this blog. And two, visit music has been really huge for me the past few months. I mean, viagra don’t get me wrong. Music has always been incredibly important to me. But lately, its even more. Every moment that I start to feel sad or down or discouraged, I immediately put on my iPod and I feel much better.

So I decided I would share my top ten songs of the moment with you guys. They aren’t in any particular order or anything, its just all the songs that I literally can’t get out of my head. I hope you can check them out and I hope you can share some of your favorite songs with me!

Click on the song title for the YouTube video and click the band name to check out their website, and enjoy some lyrics as well!

**“The Langdon House” by Issues**

Did I fail to mention, it’s all part of my imagination
I could actually pick and choose my loose ends
And tie a knot, but all I do is
Run and hide, it’ll get ya boy
Run and hide, all I need is a friend
My whole life has been a war, so I battle myself until I
Run and hide

**“Bleak December” by Set it Off**

In that bleak December,
You’re just too cold,
But I need the answer,
Before you’d fold,
You would hold your cards inside your chest,
I think I drove too far,
For that bleak December and how full of shit you are.

**“Rainy Girl” by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness**

Rainy girl
I can’t wait to meet you
And I can’t wait to hear your name
And sing it to the skies above

**“Remembering Sunday” by All Time Low**

Forgive me, I’m trying to find
My calling, I’m calling at night
I don’t mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl?
She’s been running through my dreams
And it’s driving me crazy, it seems
I’m gonna ask her to marry me

**“Sad Ghost” by Issues**

Why do I do the things that I do
And they blind you
Yet you are the only one who can see what I’ve done

Guess I’ll never know what I meant to you
This year’s been lonely but at least it’s through
I’ll write a letter to my former self
Dear sad ghost, why’d you put your heart on the shelf

**“Same Old War” by Our Last Night**

Should I run away, and change my name?
or Should I, stay and fight through the night, and never close my eyes?
I’ll never close my eyes!

**“Seven Years” by Saosin**

That mistake was gold
I know that without you
is something that I could never do
That was why staple the eyes and
seven dates for me to sell machines
and tear on

**“I’ve Never Felt This Way Before” by Our Last Night**

Feet on the ground, I was lost, now I’m found
I took cover from the rain, ‘cause it was pouring down
You held me back, and now I’m on the right track
You couldn’t stop me if you wanted, ‘cause I’m never coming back

**“The Haunting” by Set It Off**

All I could find was an acoustic video, but check out this song. Literally, I can’t handle how much I love this song.

No one will love you like I did, will treat you like I did
So go on, wear that scarlet letter
No one will love you like I did, will you fuck you like I did
So good luck finding something better

**“Sidewalks” by Story of the Year**

Out on the front porch,
watching the cars as they go by
(Eighteen blue, twenty one grey)
Looking ahead for the first time that we could drive,
Out on our own,
To speed away

From the sidewalks,
Running away from the streets we knew,
Sidewalks,
Like the time we thought was made for you.

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What are some of the songs you can’t get out of your head right now? Share them in the comments and link them so I can listen too!

Book Review: My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell and More!

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, help Romance

Pages:

321

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

October 14th, cialis 40mg 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year’s there’s something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

My Review:

When I met Stephanie Perkins back in September for the second time, she briefly mentioned this collection of stories and so I knew I would have to read it. Its chock full of stories by incredible YA authors and its all about romance and Christmas. Well, when Christmas came, it was too hard for me to read it. Christmas was rough for me. But I just got in the mood to read it about a week ago and I thought, well, let’s extend Christmas a little longer ;)

I really liked it! There were some stories that I loved more than others but in general, I thought it was cute. Its a great holiday read. I know Rainbow’s story was SUPER cute, and it made me want a full novel with those characters. One of them was kind of supernatural and was little weird, I can’t remember who wrote it, but that one was weird. But for the most part, I thought they were all kind of cute, and fluffy and it was the kind of book you read when you want to curl up by the fire (people do that right? Not in California haha) and drink tea and enjoy something that’ll just make you happy. And its probably a really great book to read during the holidays.

The only real problem I had with it was…it took me longer to read it than I would have expected, mostly because it didn’t have that…how do I describe it? It didn’t have that hook that kept you glued to the pages until the end, because you’re dying to find out what happened next. As soon as I felt like I was getting involved in the story, or attached to the characters, or that sort of thing, it ended! And then I had to read a new story. I liked the idea, and I liked the collection but I don’t think that short story books are really for me. I need a hook that keeps me frantically turning the pages until the end and this book just didn’t have that.

In general I really did like it though. I especially liked Rainbow’s story, and Jenny’s, Stephanie’s, Gayle’s, and David’s. Those in particular stories really sounded like the authors that wrote them so it was awesome to read these short stories from authors that I love so much. Some of those stories were just SO good that I wanted more!

Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Music Monday: “Same Old War” by Our Last Night

January 26, 2015January 25, 2015Leave a comment

I just saw Our Last Night for the second time this past Saturday night. They were absolutely incredible and I’m still reeling from it. Their energy and passion when they play live is just amazing. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, approved listen to this song here and scroll down for all their links :)

“Same Old War” by Our Last Night

I’ve been fighting the same old war,
against a disease, without a cure!
Been holding on for so long! For so long. For so long!
I’ve been wishing upon a star, if my universe falls apart!
I feel so far from the sky, as my dreams, are going by!
and They say, it’s a battle that can’t be won!
We need our knives, we need our guns!

Should I run away, and change my name?
or Should I, stay and fight through the night, and never close my eyes?
I’ll never close my eyes!

I’ve come too far, to go back now, turn into a face in the crowd!
Been on this road, for so long! For so long… For so long!
Convinced there is no way out, my world is turned upside down!
My sense of direction’s been gone, for so long! For so long…
and They say, it’s a battle that can’t be won!
We need our knives, we need our guns!

Should I run away, and change my name?
or Should I, stay and fight through the night, and never close my eyes?
I’ll never close my eyes!

Stay strong, keep moving, can’t let the darkness blind us!
Carry on, we’ll be the ones to pull the stars down to us!
Stay strong, keep moving, can’t let the darkness blind us!
Carry on, we’ll be the ones to pull the stars down to us!

Should I run away, and change my name?
or Should I, stay and fight through the night, and never close my eyes?
I’ll never close my eyes!

Find Our Last Night

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / iTunes

Tim Molloy, drummer

Alex “Woody” Woodrow, bassist

Trevor Wentworth, Vocals :)

Matt Wentworth, guitar and vocals

Book Review: Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015Leave a comment

This review is based on an e-galley provided to me through the website Netgalley.com. This is no way had an effect on my honest review.

Genre:

Young Adult, viagra buy Romance

Pages:

352

Part of a Series?:

Standalone Novel

Release Date:

February 3rd, viagra 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Welcome to SmartMart, pharm where crime pays minimum wage…

Busted. Alexis Dubois just got caught shoplifting a cheap tube of lipstick at the local SmartMart. She doesn’t know what’s worse—disappointing her overbearing beauty-pageant-obsessed mother for the zillionth time…or her punishment. Because Lex is forced to spend her summer working at the store, where the only things stranger than the staff are the customers.

Now Lex is stuck in the bizarro world of big-box retail. Coupon cutters, jerk customers, and learning exactly what a “Code B” really is (ew). And for added awkwardness, her new supervisor is the totally cute—and adorably geeky—Noah Grayson. Trying to balance her out-of-control mother, her pitching position on the softball team, and her secret crush on the school geek makes for one crazy summer. But ultimately, could the worst job in the world be the best thing that ever happened to her?

My Review:

I absolutely ADORE Vivi Barnes. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of her debut novel, Olivia Twisted, which I thought was fresh and fun, and super addicting. You can actually read my review for that here. Naturally when I saw that Vivi was releasing a new book and that it was available on NetGalley, I immediately wanted it and was very excited when I got it!

I’ve worked at two grocery stores in my life, and so I immediately was totally in love with this book. This is the horrors and hilarity of working in retail, and I couldn’t stop laughing. The coupon lady, and the messes all over the place, and cleaning up vomit or poop or whatever because a customer left it behind, employee drama, all of that is so familiar, especially since this was my first job ever when I was 18 years old, right around my high school graduation. It all felt so familiar and fun. It made me remember my first job both fondly and gratitude that I’m not still there. But Vivi gets the whole thing completely right and its just plain fun.

I also super enjoyed it because of the fun between Lex and Noah. My ex boyfriend (of 6.5 years) and I met when we both worked at Albertsons, my first job, so that was also fun as well. We had a good parting of ways, so it was fun to remember our relationship fondly while also remembering how it felt to fall in love over a cash register, basically. Haha. It was very very familiar to me so I immediately connected to that story.

But you guys don’t just want to hear the personal connections I had to the story! You want to know if YOU should read it. And the answer to that is: definitely! Its SO fun. SO SO fun. I laughed so much while reading this, and even if you’ve never worked in this particular situation, if you’ve ever worked with people, period, you know exactly what this is like and its just hilarious. It feels familiar, and it makes you think of every crappy job you’ve ever had. The antics of the store, the customers, the zany employees that Lex works with and also the awesome ones as well, the work crush that you inevitably always have…it was all fantastic to read, and just super fun.

But what I really loved about this book was the relationship between the characters. Lex and her relationship with her parents and sister, and especially her grandmother. That was incredible, especially since Lex’s grandmother is sick and you have to watch that through her eyes and its incredibly difficult. Watching Lex struggle to bond with her mother, because they have such different interests. Its great to see the relationship build between Lex and Noah, especially learning all the stuff that Noah goes through in his own personal life. And I especially love the relationships that Lex builds with her fellow coworkers whether they’re a little odd or a bit older than her, its just beautiful. That’s what makes it such a strong book: the relationships, and the real human quality that the book has!

Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Cover Reveal: “All Played Out” by Cora Carmack

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015Leave a comment

I am SO excited to bring you today’s cover reveal. Cora Carmack’s third novel in the Rusk University series, information pills All Played Out, online will be hitting bookstores in May (ugh, viagra the agony of waiting!) and I’m so excited for it. I love the first two books, and they’ve been massively inspirational for me. OH! I just can’t wait. In the meantime, I have to be satisfied with salivating over this brand new cover, and now I get to share it with you!

Let’s do this!

About Cora Carmack

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life– boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

You Can Find Her At:

Website / Facebook / Twitter / GoodReads

About the Rusk University Series

All Lined Up

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That’s what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn’t always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It’s obliterated.

Dallas doesn’t know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn’t know that Dallas is his new coach’s daughter.

And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / iTunes

All Broke Down

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians you name it, she’s probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He’s in for a different kind of fighting. And though he’s arrogant and infuriating, she can’t help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it’s trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He’s met girls like her before fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn’t think he’s broken, and he definitely doesn’t need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about: his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / iTunes

And now the Cover Reveal!

First person in her family to go to college? CHECK.
Straight A’s? CHECK.
On track to graduate early? CHECK.
Social life? …..yeah, about that….

With just a few weeks until she graduates, Antonella DeLuca’s beginning to worry that maybe she hasn’t had the full college experience. (Okay… Scratch that. She knows she hasn’t had the full college experience).

So Nell does what a smart, dedicated girl like herself does best. She makes a “to do” list of normal college activities.

Item #1? Hook up with a jock.

Rusk University wide receiver Mateo Torres practically wrote the playbook for normal college living. When he’s not on the field, he excels at partying, girls, and more partying. As long as he keeps things light and easy, it’s impossible to get hurt… again. But something about the quiet, shy, sexy-as-hell Nell gets under his skin, and when he learns about her list, he makes it his mission to help her complete it.

Torres is the definition of confident (And sexy. And wild), and he opens up a side of Nell that she’s never known. But as they begin to check off each crazy, exciting, normal item, Nell finds that her frivolous list leads to something more serious than she bargained for. And while Torres is used to taking risks on the field, he has to decide if he’s willing to take the chance when it’s more than just a game.

Together they will have to decide if what they have is just part of the experiment or a chance at something real.

Pre-Order All Played Out at your local bookstore or the following links!

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / iTunes

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