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Showing posts from October, 2011

Review of Love's Long Shadow by Ciara Knight

Sammy Lorre was cast from Heaven for conduct unbecoming an angel. Living in a demon infested small town with no memory of her previous life, she faces never-ending purgatory until Boon saunters into her life with a promise of angelic love. But is he an angel from Heaven or a minion from the underworld preying on her human emotions? To discover his true identity, she must risk eternal damnation and her heart.

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Okay, so Love's Long Shadow! Very quick read and fantastic writing style. That's about it really. It's very difficult to point out what's good about this book. I would almost definitely read more from Author as she has great potential but something definitely went wrong with this Novella. So I'm going to break it into three points.

  1. Length – It needed to be longer. I felt as if a 350 book had been crammed into 45 pages and so to fit everything in I had a slew of information to keep up with and I couldn't connect with the characters at all. I would have liked to have seen Sammy and Boon's relationship develop more and I had no picture of where Sammy was living at all. I wanted to know what her bedroom looked like and what she does with her day but instead I got short, quick snippets, as if she doesn't exist unless Boon's scene is up.
  1. Characters – The length didn't help and the stereotyping made it worse. If you're into insta-love, great but I prefer Anna and the French Kiss style relationships so I suppose I really didn't 'get' their relationship at all. Boon is a stereotypical Daniel (Fallen) and Sammy is a stereotypical Luce (also Fallen), except weaker.
  1. I've Read That Before – Speaking of Fallen parts of this story seemed rather similar, which didn't impress me at all. I want something new and fresh, insta-love and scenes I've read 20 times before don't equal stars I'm afraid.
If you love books like Fallen and Twilight, then great, grab this and have a good read! If you're a bit pickier like me, definitely keep an eye on this Author as I believe they will be getting better and better at their craft...

2/5

Review of Touch by Jus Accardo

When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.


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I wasn't sure if I'd like this one at first as the MC seemed a little silly and childish at first but the more I got to know Dez the more I liked her. I can definitely see the benefits of annoying her Dad, not that he reacted all that much! There's a lot going on here - plot twists and turns, more action than an Indiana Jones movie (bad example) and lots of chemistry too. The plot is very easy to follow and majorly addictive and I had a hard time putting it down.

The plot idea I was a little unsure about as it sounded rather cheesy and yes, it doesn’t have it's cheesy moments but it's actually pretty awesome, despite being a little predictable! I liked the unique idea of Kale having 'Death Touch' and it was very amusing reading about Dez trying to teach about DVD's and hand holding. I do wish certain plot lines hadn't been explored but they worked okay in the end, I guess! The 'sixes' themselves all have very varied powers, anything from what you'd see in X-Men to something much crazier.

Like I said, I liked Dez a lot. She has a reputation around boys which she's built up on purpose to annoy her father and that also seems to be her sole purpose in life until Kale comes along and everything changes. Kale is hilarious. I always love characters that have no idea how the world works (admittedly they don't turn up often...) and he's definitely one of the best. I wasn't a fan of Alex though, I just couldn't work him out. Was he good or bad? Neither? No idea. Of course, I hated Dez's father. He was a rubbish bad guy!

5/5

Review of Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.


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A few months ago I took the plunge and started reading Anna and the French Kiss. Cue a lack of sleep, compulsive reading and a babbling review later and Anna became my favourite ever YA romance book. I eagerly anticipated Lola but I was a little wary too – would it live up to the high, high standards set by Anna?
Not quite. The best way to describe Lola is that it's like Anna's little sister and indeed, Anna and Etienne do turn up quite a bit in the book and Anna is like an older sister to only child Lola. The storyline almost becomes brilliant but due to some rather annoying characters and a rushed ending it just didn't quite do it for me.

Lola is a brilliant character, she's flamboyant, wacky, funny and smart. I loved her bizarre outfits and her mad ideas and I grew to love her more and more throughout the book. She did have her moments of childishness but that's just Lola. Howeverthe constant mention of how young she was really grated with me – I'm English, so 17 is perfectly legal over here and even in America, she really wasn't that young. It wasn't like she was a total slut or anything...

I liked the idea of two gay parents- Andy and Nathan - but it just sank into stereotypical over-protectiveness (forcing Lola's boyfriend over for Sunday brunch, assuming she's got a ton of STI's and NEVER listening to her) that bored me to death and made me want to out the book down in a few places. I wish there were some cool gay parents in a book for once.

Moving on. Cricket is the natural star of the show here for me and I wish I could have seen the story for his point of view for a couple of chapters. He's the perfect companion for Lola, he's sweet and caring and loves who she is, instead of expecting her to be something she's not. Plus he's got the whole gadget making thing going on which is pretty awesome!

On the over hand, I spent a whole lot of time trying to work Lola's boyfriend out. I think he was just slightly mentally ill, to be quite honest and I did not like him ONE BIT.

Back to happy things. I loved that Cricket lived next door to Lola (as it says, of course) but I also love that they share adjacent windows too! It was fun reading about them talking to each other etc; and even better to learn of their history. My only disappointment with the storyline was that the ending felt very rushed and I felt a bit cheated as I'd followed these characters until the end and I wanted at leats a couple of more days with them.

All in all, a rather frustrating book that still left me wanting to sob like a baby at the end of it, although not for the same reasons as Anna, unfortunately.

3/5

Review of Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

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An action packed novel with a hot boys,, supernatural daimons and a kick ass chick? Yes please! I found this story a little hard to get into but after a couple of chapters I just couldn't put it down. Alex is easily going to be one of my favourite characters now, as I love strong, sarcastic characters and she really bites if you annoy her. She gets beaten up quite a lot, both by Daimons and her training instructor but she just picks herself back up and and carries on, to the point where Aiden has to tell her off for not mentioning that she's injured.

Admittedly, I didn't like Aiden's character as much as everyone else, I much preferred Seth, I guess I just like the mysterious boys better! It will be interesting to see if they'll be a love triangle between Aiden, Alex and Seth later on as Half Blood seemed to be hinting at it.
The world that Alex lives in is very believable and there's a whole lot going on in such a small space! I enjoyed the chemistry between Alex and Aiden during the training sessions, although, as I mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of Aiden. I really liked the playful banter between Seth and Alex, and his tendencies to stalk her around the campus were strangely hilarious!

One thing that does worry me is that a lot of reviewers say that Half Blood is a lot like Vampire Academy. I can't note my thoughts on this as I haven't read Vampire Academy yet, so I'm going to read it and decide for myself, which I recommend most other readers doing if they haven't read VA yet. Another read I recommend is Daimon, the prequel to Half Blood which I plan to pick up very soon!

5/5

Review of Eve by Anna Carey

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it - wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.


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If I had to describe Eve in one word, I'd probably choose 'Watery'. The idea is very good, a great idea for a Dystopian but it never really delivers. It definitely has it's good points but I found quite a few things I didn't like about it. 

Eve is a pretty weak character and I never really 'got' her. I didn't understand why she disobeyed the rules of her school, considering she's a model student, has lived there a very long time and knows of no reason why she shouldn't trust them. She's been brought up to believe that boys are basically savages, only after one thing but of course, almost as soon as she meets Caleb she's all, 'Ooh, my face is near his chest!' Honestly, this chick has a chest fetish. 
The other characters are stronger, with a lot more substance which is why I continued reading. Arden should have been the main character, as she has a much stronger voice and she's a lot tougher emotionally. Plus, she has the mentality of a tough Dystopian chick. I actually got to know her character, that she likes playing pranks on people and she's easily annoyed. 
Caleb was mostly cardboard hottie but with a few redeeming qualities, mostly his past. Won't say too much (Spoilers) but his past is definitely intriguing. 

The story is almost as weak as our main character. The idea is that most of America has been wiped out after a Plague (no specific details about that) and now wherever Eve is living is ruled by an Evil King. Who uses the school girls to breed lots of babies that will become citizens (or slaves) of his Empire. Eve is caught up in it all and chooses to escape. Her and Anden end up living in a sort of underground bunker for a while with a gang of kids I could only describe as the Lost Boys. Guess who's Wendy. Eve and Arden plan to make their way to a safe haven and encounter friends and foe along the way. 

The story didn't really leave me wanting to read more and I only chose to read it because it's a Dystopian! I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone but if you have it, well, it's a quick read. 

2/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Review of There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

In a small cottage house in rural Ireland, Finley discovers she can no longer outrun the past. 
When Finley travels to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, she hopes to create a new identity and get some answers from the God who took her brother away and seems to have left her high and dry. 
But from the moment she boards the plane and sits by Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to Finley's plan. 
When she gets too close to Beckett, a classmate goes on a mission to make sure Finley packs her bags, departs Ireland-and leaves Beckett alone. 
Finley feels the pressure all around. As things start to fall apart, she begins to rely on a not-so-healthy method of taking control of her life.
Finley tries to balance it all-disasters on the set of Beckett's new movie, the demands of school, and her growing romance with one actor who is not what he seems. Yet Finley is also not who she portrays to Beckett and her friends. 
For the first time in her life, Finley must get honest with herself to get right with God.

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I was in need of some more fluff after reading a heavy historical book that wasn't as great as I was hoping, and this little book really did the trick. On one side, it's quite serious, dealing with Finley's grief after the death of her older brother, and on the other it's rather silly - on a flight to Ireland, a place that her brother loves, she ends up sitting next to the hottest boy in Hollywood - Beckett Rush, who's filming his latest Vampire movie in Ireland. Yes, really! I couldn't help but picture him as Robert Pattinson, of course. Strangely enough, this formula seems to work. 

Finley has a lot of issues. Although she's rich this isn't touched upon much but what we do know is that she became quite wild after her brother's death, and has some anorexic tendencies to work through. She goes to Ireland to try and find God, as her brother did, and she if she can finish the song she made for him, as part of her Audition piece for a school of music. On top of that she's assigned a grandmother to look after who's trying to gain her Sister's forgiveness for mistakes she made in the past. And then there's Beckett, who's always around and staying at the same Bed and Breakfast that Finley is. He might be perfect for Finley, if she can stop thinking about herself for a little while and realise his true personality.

Beckett annoys Finley a lot and has a tendency to call her by the wrong name on purpose but undeath his Hollywood charm is a very adorable guy trapped by his Father's expectations. I think he connects with Finley quickly because she's just what he needs - real. She helps his with his lines and doesn't moon over him like the other girls and he seems to enjoy the challenge!

There You'll Find Me is a great book to curl up on the sofa with on a rainy day, especially if you like fluffy reads. I loved every minute of it and I'm sad that I finished it so quickly! 


5/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review