Book Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

December 5, 2014December 2, 20141 Comment

Genre:

Young Adult, hospital Fantasy/Dystopian

Pages:

358

Part of a Series?:

The first in a planned trilogy (I think…)

Release Date:

September 2nd, prostate 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, look the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.

Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence… and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

My Review:

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked up this book. I had heard a lot about it but I knew very little about what exactly it was about. So when I got through the first few chapters, my mind was absolutely blown and I was hooked. Amy grabs you, hooks you from the first page and keeps you addicted.

This book is absolutely frightening. I don’t know that its intended to be so but it is. These girls are raised to be perfect: beautiful, intelligent, talented. They are bid on by the wealthy families that live in the Jewel to give them children. They’re surrogates for these families; that’s their entire purpose in life. And they really seem okay with that. There are definitely benefits for it. They’re given an education and their families receive compensation for their daughters being pulled from their homes. They are told they will provide a child and then retire with other surrogates like themselves.

But when Violet realizes that there is so much more to it than she realizes, I’m just floored. Secret plots and fierce competition between the noble families and absolute cruelty. Surrogates die, get beaten, are covered up, used, paraded around like show dogs, dragged around on actual leashes. It blew my mind because of how totally frightening it was. It didn’t seem to be something that outside of the realm of possibilities. Violet is taught that her life is supposed to be better; differently, definitely but better because of her being a surrogate and instead she’s like a prize show dog, paraded around in pretty outfits and controlled like crazy. The prospect of it, the craziness of it, is just frightening and cruel. There were several times in the book where I actually gasped out loud because something shocked me so badly.

And yet there’s also an incredible romance built into it as well. A boy comes into Violet’s life, a boy that so incredibly off limits but she can’t help but want to be with and I can’t help but ship it too. Its subtle and the build up of it is just…its beautiful. They have to keep it hidden and keep it small because of the expectations they both live under. Violet is expected to become pregnant with her “owner”s baby, amongst other things that I won’t say because, you know, “spoilers”. The boy she meets has an important job to fulfill for Violet’s owner as well and its all very conflicting. The ways that they find to be together and its perfect in its complete wrongness. You know its going to end badly, you keep reading and you just KNOW its going to end badly but its like a car crash on the highway, you can’t keep your eyes off of it.

The thing that really sold me on this novel, and Amy Ewing, and the five stars I give it, is the ending. Just when you think you have a handle on the story, just when you think you have a general idea of where its going, the book ends and completely blows your mind. I mean, completely. I was left, with my mouth hanging open, when that book ended. I couldn’t believe it at all and I loved every bit of it. I’m dying for the sequel. Its going to magnificent and I can’t wait to see what else Amy brings in. She’s a fantastic writer, a great story teller, her world building is superb and she creates an incredible romance.

Rating:

5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

December 4, 2014December 2, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

New Adult, buy information pills Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance

Pages:

352

Part of a Series?:

The first in the Dante Walker trilogy

Release Date:

April 2nd, 2013

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.
Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

My Review:

I’ve been wanting to read this book for quite some time now. I absolutely ADORE Victoria’s Fire and Flood. I just recently finished the sequel to that, Salt and Stone, and I just love her. She’s super sweet and her books are great and I’ve been wanting to read The Collector for awhile now. So when it went on sale for Nook for only 99 cents, I was SO there.

I nearly finished it in one night except I had to go to work fairly early the next day so that was a total failure but I immediately finished the next moment that I was able to. I LOVE this book. I love that its told in the point of view of Dante because you alternately want to punch him in the face and throw him down on the bed and make out with him? I mean, a bright red Escalade? Who does that?! But then he’ll do something incredibly sweet for Charlie, like carry her out of the woods and it KILLS my heart. He’s addicting as a character, and he has a natural character progression. Nothing about his transformation through out the novel seems forced or wrong. You watch as Dante changes and its beautiful. Its my favorite part of the book.

But I also just love Charlie as well. She’s SUCH a great person, which would kind of drive me crazy but it doesn’t because everything she does seems so genuine and real. As soon as you meet her for the first time in her room, dorky and fantastic, I knew I was already madly in love with her. She’s not your typical heroine. Most heroines are always beautiful, even if they don’t know they’re beautiful. They think they’re ugly or average but of course, they’re extraordinary. But that’s not Charlie. She’s straight up not classically beautiful at all. She has frizzy hair, a limp, crooked teeth, freckles, the whole nine yards. And I know it can sound kind of stereotypical and all that but Charlie really wins everyone over with her beautiful personality. She’s so beautiful on the inside that she brings in her best friend and, eventually, Dante, because she’s such an incredibly beautiful person. Obviously that’s a huge part to the general plot of the story but I loved that about this book. Its good to see a character that is so genuinely good on the inside that Dante slowly falls for her, not immediately. I really really enjoyed the freshness of that.

What really got me about this story was that its something I haven’t really read before. Dante is a collector the devil, basically. Its his job to go around, marking people for their sins and collecting them for the devil’s collection in hell. He’s sexy and kind of addicting but he’s a bad person. He’s working for a bad guy and yet you kind of can’t help but be on his side, no matter what he’s doing. Dante is kind of an anti-hero who eventually becomes a hero and its not really something we see a lot in books, not written this well, with this kind of story line. I read a LOT so sometimes I need a really good, fresh story to keep me addicted and satisfied and this book definitely did that. After reading this (now I need to read the next two), and reading the first two books of the Fire and Flood series, I’m completely sold on Victoria Scott as a writer. She’s fantastic, she’s great at world building and her characters are unique and fresh and relatable. I can’t wait to see more. I’m hoping to get The Liberator soon!

Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Cover Reveal: “A Girl Undone” by Catherine Linka

November 20, 2014Leave a comment

I am SO excited to be sharing this unofficial cover reveal. Catherine is a beautiful writer and I absolutely LOVED the first. She has also become such an inspiration and a great friend.

Let’s jump in, treat learn a little about Catherine and her books :)

About Catherine Linka

Catherine Linka has been immersed in books her whole life, most recently as a writer and a bookseller. Her debut novel is A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS, a young adult romantic spec fiction/political thriller. Catherine lives in Southern California where she watches hummingbirds and hawks when she should be working.

You Can Find Her At:

Website / GoodReads / Twitter / Tumblr

About A Girl Called Fearless

Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl’s life is these days. After a synthetic hormone in beef killed fifty million American women ten years ago, only young girls, old women, men, and boys are left to pick up the pieces. The death threat is past, but fathers still fear for their daughters’ safety, and the Paternalist Movement, begun to “protect” young women, is taking over the choices they make.Like all her friends, Avie still mourns the loss of her mother, but she’s also dreaming about college and love and what she’ll make of her life. When her dad “contracts” her to marry a rich, older man to raise money to save his struggling company, her life suddenly narrows to two choices: Be trapped in a marriage with a controlling politician, or run. Her lifelong friend, student revolutionary Yates, urges her to run to freedom across the border to Canada. As their friendship turns to passion, the decision to leave becomes harder and harder. Running away is incredibly dangerous, and it’s possible Avie will never see Yates again. But staying could mean death.From Catherine Linka comes this romantic, thought-provoking, and frighteningly real story, A Girl Called Fearless, about fighting for the most important things in life—freedom and love.

Purchase A Girl Called Fearless at your local bookstore or one of these links:

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository

The Cover Reveal for A Girl Undone

About A Girl Undone

On the run with deadly government secrets, Avie must decide if she can live up to her name and truly become fearless for the cause or if it’s better to just give in.

The sequel and explosive conclusion to A Girl Called Fearless.

Having survived a violent confrontation with the US government, Avie is not out of danger. Both she and the young man she loves, Yates, have been declared terrorists, and Yates is hospitalized in critical condition, leaving Avie with the perilous task of carrying information that can bring down the Paternalist party, if she can get it into the right hands.

Forced on the run with handsome, enigmatic woodsman Luke, Avie struggles when every turn becomes a choice between keeping the two of them alive or completing their mission. With her face on every news channel and a quarter million dollar reward from the man who still owns her marriage Contract, Avie’s worst fears are about to come true.

Preorder A Girl Undone at your local bookstore or these links:

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository

* * * * * *

Cover Reveal: “Get Dirty” by Gretchen McNeil

October 7, 2014Leave a comment

Okay, case this isn’t an official cover reveal, but I’m making it an official cover reveal here on my blog because I absolutely adore Gretchen McNeil and I LOVED the first book of the series and I’m ready to reveal the super cool cover of the second book!

But first off, let’s learn more about Gretchen, the series itself, and then we’ll talk about “Get Dirty”.

About Gretchen McNeil

Gretchen McNeil is the author of a handful of YA novels, mostly known for the high body count that tends to show up in her books. Her first novel is Possess, about a teen exorcist, followed by Ten, which follows ten teenagers, trapped on an island with a serial killer. 3:59 is her science fiction parallel worlds where two girls, who are basically each other, switch places in their worlds and things kind of go haywire from there. Her most release is Get Even, about a group of four girls who form a secret society to get revenge on teachers, students, and bullies in their school. The sequel, Get Dirty, will be hitting bookshelves next summer. She is a former opera singer, has a wicked sense of humor, and got married at one of the best bookstores in the entire world. Because this is all important to know.

Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / GoodReads

About Get Even

Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.

When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

Check it out on GoodReads!

About Get Dirty

The members of Don’t Get Mad aren’t just mad anymore . . . they’re afraid. And with Margot in a coma and Bree stuck in juvie, it’s up to Olivia and Kitty to try to catch their deadly tormentor. But just as the girls are about to go on the offensive, Ed the Head reveals a shocking secret that turns all their theories upside down. The killer could be anyone, and this time he—or she—is out for more than just revenge.

The girls desperately try to discover the killer’s identity as their personal lives are falling apart: Donté is pulling away from Kitty and seems to be hiding a secret of his own, Bree is under house arrest, and Olivia’s mother is on an emotional downward spiral. The killer is closing in, the threats are becoming more personal, and when the police refuse to listen, the girls have no choice but to confront their anonymous friend . . . or die trying.

Check it out on GoodReads!

This book will be hitting shelves on June 16th, 2015! Make sure to pre-order this (and check out Gretchen’s social medias because she always has awesome things going on with her book releases) and pick up the first book, Get Even, if you haven’t read it yet!

And even better!

Head over to Me, My Shelf and I to get your hands on the VERY first ARC of the book! I know I entered and you should too!

Cover Reveal: “Get Dirty” by Gretchen McNeil

October 7, 2014Leave a comment

But first off, let’s learn more about Gretchen, the series itself, and then we’ll talk about “Get Dirty”.

About Gretchen McNeil

Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / GoodReads

About Get Even

Check it out on GoodReads!

About Get Dirty

Check it out on GoodReads!

And even better!

Head over to Me, My Shelf and I to get your hands on the VERY first ARC of the book! I know I entered and you should too!

Book Review: As Long As You Love Me by Ann Aguirre

September 29, 2014September 26, 2014Leave a comment

This review is based a review copy given to me by Ann Aguirre and her publicity team. This is no way had any influence on this honest, viagra spoiler free review

Genre:

New Adult, physician Romance

Pages:

352

Part of a Series?:

Second Book in the 2B series

Release Date:

September 30th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Most people dream about getting out of Sharon, Nebraska, but after three years away, Lauren Barrett is coming home. There are the justifications she gives to everyone else—missing her family, losing her college scholarship. And then there’s the reason Lauren can’t admit to anyone: Rob Conrad, her best friend’s older brother.

Football prowess and jaw-dropping good looks made Rob a star in high school. Out in the real world, his job and his relationships are going nowhere. He can’t pinpoint exactly what’s missing until Lauren comes back to town, bringing old feelings and new dreams with her. But he’s the guy that women love and leave—not the one who makes them think of forever.

Though she’s terrified of opening up, Lauren’s ready to take that chance. Because the only thing more important than figuring out where you truly belong is finding the person you were meant to be with.

My Review:

While there will be no spoilers for this novel in this review, there will be spoilers for the first novel, I Want It That Way. You can check out the review for that novel here.

I had absolutely loved the first installment of this series, featuring Nadia and Ty, and I knew that I wanted to read the rest of the series, definitely. Ann posted that she needed reviewers for her books and I immediately signed up in the hopes of getting this book, and I was successful. YES.

Now, I’m not going to say that this book is bad. Because that is definitely not the truth. There are a LOT of things that I highly enjoyed about this book and I’m going to talk about that first.

First off, I really loved Lauren, the main character. When we get to know her in I Want It That Way, we learn that she’s having a tough time, that college just isn’t working for her and that she wants to go home, back to the place that she’s comfortable with. Nadia, the MC of that novel, is frustrated and has a hard time but I immediately felt a kinship with her and this increased tenfold in this novel, where Lauren gets her own story. She has a lot of the same issues that I have struggled with myself, the shyness that people don’t see because you’re so good at hiding it. The anxiety. The insecurities. The anxiety. Lauren was a character I could connect with so much because of the anxieties she had and hid so well, and her aversion to change.

I also liked just the general story of it. You never know where you’re going to find love and I think Lauren finding it with her best friend’s brother, the boy she’s had a crush on for most of her life…I think that’s not only super cute, but its fun. Its expected but not. Its like…a fantasy of your own school girl crush coming to life and I really liked it. It was really sweet more than anything else. Rob and Lauren had a sweet story and watching them fall in love was addicting and fun, and I loved the unpredictability of it. What happens later in the story, that rocks their relationship off its course, really came unexpectedly to me. I knew something would happen but what happened completely blew me away and I like being surprised in romance novels. That makes me happy.

Plus, whew, those steamy scenes. I was in love with both of them so much after each sexy scene. Rob and Lauren spend a lot of time building up their physical romance and they had ME panting for them to do more which caused for some sexy anticipation that kept me turning the pages.

The only thing that really didn’t give me the full five stars vibe was that it seemed to take awhile to really get to what a conflict would be. It seemed like the first 3 quarters of the novel was spent with their romance, which was great but I couldn’t really figure out if anything was actually going to happen, to stir things up. It took a while to get to that, and so it was kind of a struggle to keep turning the pages. I was waiting for the drama to unfold, like it does with most romances, and it seemed to take awhile. It was only my love of the first novel that really kept me from shutting the book and I’m glad I stuck with it. But if you don’t have the resolve, it might be hard to get past the big chunk of romance to get to the conflict of the actual novel.

Other than that though, another winning romance new adult book by Ann. I’m eagerly awaiting for the third one (which I just requested an early copy on NetGalley, eek!), especially since its about two characters that I think are going to be SUPER fun to read about. If you haven’t read the first one, definitely head out to a bookstore and pick it up and pick up THIS particular novel tomorrow when it releases!

Rating:

3.75 out of 5 Stars